Impostors

be experiencing “Impostor Syndrome”, a psychological

It seems as though in today’s society, suspicion lies in every corner. No one trusts anyone anymore, everyone lies, everyone steals, everyone pretends to be someone they are not. However true or false these statements might be, there is a need in today’s society to be able to explain everything, coming up with every possible lie or predicament within every story. Natalie Davis is from today’s society, and once again, she has found the need to investigate Bertrande Guerre’s role within The Return

has to independence. Lewis teaches her readers the tenacity one must have in adversity, disregarding the restrictions placed upon a person’s gender. The concept of ‘true love’ is challenged through Bertrande’s struggle between her desire of the impostor, “the love she had rejected for it was forbidden,” and her loyalty to her husband, “the love that had rejected her.” The limitations of her power to decide her own life, and the resultant of circumstances beyond her control, deepens her internal

Davis dived into the shadows of Martin's life in the book The Return of Martin Guerre. Davis used written accounts and summaries of the Martin Guerre trial to create the book. Through these accounts she was able to write about why Martin left, why an impostor took his place, and the circumstances that brought about someone’s untimely death. Martins childhood was brief; ending at fourteen when he married his then nine or ten-year-old spouse Bertrande de

The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Davis The Return of Martin Guerre written by Natalie Davis gives the audience a rare glimpse into the world of peasant life in sixteenth century France. It also allows a modern day audience a chance to examine and to compare their own identities and questions of self. What makes the story so interesting to modern day viewers and readers is how relevant the story and the people in it are to our own times. This story is about a history of everyday people rather

Natalie Zemon Davis’ The Return of Martin Guerre tells the true story of a peasant named Martin Guerre, who was at the center of a famous case of imposture in France in the sixteenth century. Davis takes the facts of this famous case from two primary sources including a book written by one of the trial judges of the case in Toulouse, Jean de Coras, called Arreste Memorable and one by a lawyer, Guillaume La Sueur, called Admiranda Historia. Davis uses other secondary sources to add details about peasant

case of identity theft, Guerre’s eight year absence allowed for Pansette to authentically impersonate him for three years. . However, following his dispute with his uncle, Pierre Guerre, over the family inheritance, Pansette was accused of being an impostor, ultimately leading to his execution. Concluding the case, the court declared Bertrande and the Guerre family victims in the trial. Unlike the participants of the case, Davis does not conform to the idea of Bertrande as a mere victim, but rather

about the events leading up to the appearance of Arnaud. She explains that first Bertrande and Martin were married, then after several years of marriage they had a child named Sanxi, later Martin joined the Spanish Army and then years after this the impostor presented himself as Martin Guerre. With the book being based off of an event from hundreds of years ago, without the use of chronological order the book would have been hard to follow. Since the

Throughout this semester we read numerus of text relating to this semester enduring question “what do we know, and how can we know our understanding is reliable?” with this question in hand I would like to us two text to explore this question. The first text being “In the Grove,” by Akutagawa the second text being “The Return of Martin Guerre” by Natalie Zemon Davis. Both books have multiple people telling multiple stories hence what do we know and how do we know what is true form who is telling

Natalie Zemon Davis’ famous work The Return of Martin Guerre is a story of a man who runs away from his family and home, an imposter comes and takes over his life, and returns only when the imposter is about to be found innocent in trial. Davis’ story has the new Martin Guerre and his new wife Bertrande, work together to invent a marriage between them. The story is about identity, culture and love in 16th century peasant society. Martin Guerre takes place in 16th century southern France, in a village