“A good wife with a bad husband often has a sorry heart.”
The Introduction to the book begins with this quote (first in French, then the translation) and not by accident or mere adornment. The biggest mystery at the heart of the story of Martin Guerre’s “return” is whether his wife Bertrande was really the victim of a master imposter or was she a willing participant in fraud.
Nothing happened in Bertrande’s marriage bed, it seemed, neither that night [their wedding night] nor more than eight years afterward. Martin Guerre was impotent.
One possible explanation for why Bertrande would have gone along with the fraud is that the imposter claiming to be her husband was not impotent. This goes not just to some maternal longing, but also economics. If Bertrande could produce an heir sired by Martin Guerre, she could guarantee a comfortable life; the Guerre family was not without means.
The real Martin Guerre had a wooden leg, the soldier said, and then went on his way.
The story of the return of Martin Guerre might never have become famous—might well have remained merely the stuff of legend and myth based on conjecture and suspicious—had not a soldier who fought alongside the real Martin in the siege of Saint-Quentin happened to show up. It only took one look at the imposter for this soldier to know instantly that fraud was going on. The fake Martin may have been very, very good at deception, but even he could not fake a wooden leg.
“This is my brother Martin Guerre.”
After the man with the wooden leg that the soldier claims is the real Martin Guerre shows up, everything pretty much seems to be wrapped up nice and tidy. Except, of course, this story is not really about who was the real Martin Guerre, but rather how—and if—the imposter was able to fool so many people, including Martin’s wife. Placed side by side with the imposter, Martin’s sister seems to have no trouble picking out her real brother. So was Bertrand lying? Or was she so desperate that she made herself believe the lie? Or was the imposter so good that when nobody thought a choice was necessary, Bertrande actually did believe him to be who he said.
