Janet Lewis wrote several historical texts, and this text is the first of her books based on actual incidents which have been described in the work of Samuel Phillips’ Famous Cases of Circumstantial Evidence. It is fiction even though it is based on the trial of Arnaud du Tilh which concerned itself with a case of mistaken identity.

The story is set in sixteen century France where people were generally pre-occupied with religion and the notion of punishment for committing sins – especially those perceived to be sins against the teachings of the Church – was one which was very difficult to come to terms with.

As one would expect in a patriarchal society, women were considered to be the property of their families and they were often “sold off” to other families as wives in order to consolidate land ownership or bring families together for business purposes.

It was the norm for arranged marriages to take place with children often being betrothed to their future partners almost from the time of their birth. In this text it is important to note that the family property was always inherited by the male child and therefore the impostor is more readily accepted into the Guerre family as he is a viable alternative to having an unknown and distant relative take over the running of the family once M. Guerre, Martin’s father dies.

That is not to say that this is the only reason for his acceptance, but it is an important one nonetheless.
This text is multi generic. It is possible that this text may be considered to be an historical novel but, due to the fact that Lewis has embellished the basic truth of the trial, it would be more accurate to describe it as psychological fiction because it concentrates more on human feelings as well as the world behind these events.

The text also raises social issues such as the role of women in society which can be carried forward to the role of women in the twenty-first century. It is also a love story of sorts where Bertrande finds that she must choose between the man whom she truly loves and her conscience or fear of punishment in the after life.

The tale focuses on the role of authority of the Church and the family as well as the associated issues concerned with moral judgment. To summarise, the text is concerned with historical events and psychological issues, whilst at the same time it tells a somewhat twisted love story which raises social issues of the time, whilst touching on the themes of justice and morality.

The study map for The Wife of Martin Guerre is a visual representation of all key aspects of the text including:

• Genre
• Structure
• Historical Issues
• Style
• Background Notes
• Summary
• Character Profiles
• Themes and Issues
• Sample Examination Questions
  
  
  

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