Book Review of The Return of Martin Guerre Essay

In The Return of Martin Guerre, one mans impersonation of an heir from an influential peasant family in the French village of Artigat ultimately leads to his public execution. The tale of Arnaud du Tilh alias Pansette (meaning the belly) is full of ironies, not the least of which is his death at the hands of a man who by some accounts harbored some admiration for the quick-witted peasant. Set in a time and place where a hardly discernible line separated proper behavior from that which was grounds for death, du Tilh was guilty of more than one serious charge. Yet he was well-known as a strong farmer, loving husband, shrewd rural-merchant, and eloquent speaker. Arnauds actions are not the result of his own audacity, rather of†¦show more content†¦Du Tilh knew he had the intelligence to pull it off, and his old life was not holding him back. There are a few plausible reasons as to why Arnaud wanted a new identity, but why did he go as far as he did in his impersonation? For one, Guerres inheritance was larger, but did he happen to know that when his role began? What started for du Tilh as a simple act of cleverness evolved into an elaborate charade, a chance to start an entirely new life. Du Tilh didnt only want money, he wanted a fresh start, a chance to put his skills to good use and force a path for himself. Pansette was moving beyond the mask of the carnival player and the stratagems of the mere inheritance seeker to forge a new identity and a new life for himself in the village on the Leze. The thought of a family, as well as a decent inheritance must have sounded good to the peasant from Sajas. However, the thought of duping an entire village must have been even more tempting to the prankster Pansette. During his trial at Toulouse, his suspicion of conjuring spirits to aid his deception came to the fore. The acc used seemed to have an air of magic about him. Trying to take him off guard, President de Mansencal asked him how he had invoked the evil spirit that taught him so much about the people of Artigat. Coras said he paled and for once hesitated... This reaction, I think, may have resulted not only from the defendants sense of danger, but also from angerShow MoreRelatedThe Return Of Martin Guerre1046 Words   |  5 PagesBook Review: The Return of Martin Guerre In the book â€Å"The Return of Martin Guerre† by Natalie Zemon Davis it tells a story about a time in 1560 when a man named of Martin Guerre was impostered by a man named Arnaud Du Tilh. As an infant Martin’s father moved his family to the small town along the French and Spain board name Artigat. In his early teenage years while living here Martin marries a young lady named Bertrande. After being married for several years Bertrande became pregnant and had theirRead MoreMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 PagesSignifying statements should be semenes (p. 26). I have not found an English equivalent for mise en grilles, which refers to a gridlike breakdown of linguistic units and which Taylor translates by pigeon-holing (p. 35). 1990 Preface This book is divided into four sections, and it groups ten chapters corresponding to twelve previously published articles. The disparity between ten and twelve is caused by the fact that Chapter 5 was condensed out of three separate articles. As the title indicatesRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesinternational terrorism, which were powerfully symptomatic of the unprecedented reach and intensity of the processes of globalization on either side of the otherwise unremarkable last and first years of the old and new millennia, represented both a return to trends reminiscent of the opening decades of the twentieth century and a major break from the prevailing dynamics of the cold war. In addition to the problems posed for conceptualizing the twentieth century as a discrete era of world history due