Instructions
This worksheet explores the intersection of literature, history, law, and folklore through the lens of two compelling female figures: the wife from Marie de France's lai of "Bisclavret" and Bertrande de Rols, the wife of Martin Guerre. Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful, detailed responses that draw upon your knowledge of both narratives. Consider not only the characters' actions but also the societal, legal, and cultural contexts in which they lived.
Part 1: Comparative Character Analysis
Complete the following table to draw direct comparisons between the two women. Then, answer the analytical question below.
| Characteristic / Question | Wife of Bisclavret | Bertrande de Rols (Wife of Martin Guerre) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary motivation for acting against her husband (or the man she lives with). | ||
| What secret does she expose or manipulate? | ||
| What is the immediate consequence of her action for her husband? | ||
| How is her femininity or role as a wife perceived by her community/the court? |
- Based on your analysis, which woman's actions are more justifiable within her own story's context? Explain your reasoning, considering the pressures (e.g., fear, social duty, personal desire) each faced.
Part 2: Justice, Law, and Society
Analyze the different systems of justice at play in each narrative.
- Contrast the concept of "evidence" in Bisclavret with the evidence used in the trial of Martin Guerre. How does the supernatural function as a form of evidence in the medieval lai versus the empirical evidence (witnesses, memory, physical resemblance) demanded by the 16th-century French court?
- In Bisclavret, the wife's punishment (mutilation and exile) is symbolic and delivered by the king, reflecting a feudal and folkloric sense of justice. In the Martin Guerre case, the impostor's punishment is death by hanging, a formal state execution. Discuss what these different punishments reveal about the values and power structures of their respective societies.
- What role does the community (the court nobles in Bisclavret, the villagers of Artigat for Martin Guerre) play in the judgment of each woman? How does public opinion influence the final outcome?
Part 3: Folklore and Fairy Tales
Explore the connection between these narratives and the traditions of folklore.
- "Bisclavret" fits within the fairy tale tradition. Identify two common fairy tale tropes present in the story (e.g., animal groom, treacherous wife, magical transformation, symbolic punishment) and explain how Marie de France uses them.
- While the story of Martin Guerre is a historical event, its retellings often give it the quality of a folk tale. What elements of the Martin Guerre narrative—such as the theme of the impostor, the wife's dilemma, and the dramatic return of the "true" husband—make it resonate like a legend or folk tale?
Part 4: Synthesis and Argument
Write a short essay response (2-3 paragraphs) to the following prompt:
Both Bisclavret's wife and Bertrande de Rols challenged the authority of their husbands, thereby threatening the patriarchal order of their time. Which woman, in your view, posed a more profound and dangerous threat to the social and legal fabric of her era? Support your argument with specific evidence from the narratives and your understanding of their historical contexts.
Answer Key
Note: These are guiding points. Well-reasoned answers may vary, especially for analytical questions.
Part 1: Comparative Character Analysis
| Characteristic / Question | Wife of Bisclavret | Bertrande de Rols (Wife of Martin Guerre) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary motivation for acting against her husband (or the man she lives with). | Fear and horror. She is terrified by the knowledge that her husband is a werewolf ("garwolf"). Her actions are driven by self-preservation and revulsion. | Complex. Initially, she accepts the impostor, perhaps out of loneliness, social pressure, or genuine affection. Her later action to expose him is driven by a crisis of conscience, religious guilt, and possibly pressure from her family. |
| What secret does she expose or manipulate? | She manipulates her husband into revealing the secret of how to trap him in wolf form (by stealing his clothes). She then shares this secret with another knight. | She exposes the secret that the man living as Martin Guerre is an impostor (Arnaud du Tilh). This is a secret she kept for several years. |
| What is the immediate consequence of her action for her husband? | He is trapped in his wolf form, unable to return to human society, and is presumed dead. | The impostor is put on trial, and her claims subject her own honor and legitimacy to intense legal and public scrutiny. |
| How is her femininity or role as a wife perceived by her community/the court? | She is initially perceived as a loyal wife, using her "love" to extract a secret. After her betrayal is revealed, she is seen as treacherous, disloyal, and unnatural. Her punishment (noselessness) is a physical marking of her inner corruption. | Her role is highly scrutinized. She is judged for not recognizing her own husband, for living with an impostor, and for bringing the case to court. She is seen as either a victim, a fool, or a clever accomplice, challenging the court's ability to define her. |
- Justification: A student could argue Bisclavret's wife is more justifiable due to the genuine, visceral fear of living with a werewolf. Her actions are a direct response to a perceived monstrous threat. Conversely, one could argue for Bertrande, whose actions were rooted in a complex struggle with religious and social duty after a long period of complicity. Her choice was arguably more intellectually and morally complex than a simple reaction of fear.
Part 2: Justice, Law, and Society
- Evidence: In Bisclavret, evidence is supernatural and symbolic. The wolf's noble behavior and its specific act of aggression towards the wife and her new husband are interpreted by the wise king as signs of a deeper truth. It is intuitive justice. In the Martin Guerre trial, evidence is empirical: witness testimony about memories, scars, and skills; the opinions of shoemakers; and finally, the ultimate "evidence" of the real Martin Guerre's physical return.
- Punishment and Values: The mutilation in Bisclavret is a feudal, symbolic punishment. It marks the wife physically for her moral failing (disloyalty) and affects her lineage (her female descendants are also born without noses). It reinforces the king's power and the importance of loyalty in a feudal court. The execution in the Martin Guerre case represents the power of the state and the church. The crime is not just against Bertrande, but against the sacrament of marriage, property laws, and social order. The punishment is a legal, public spectacle meant to reaffirm the state's authority.
- Community Role: In Bisclavret, the community is the king's court. Their opinion sways the king ("All the court went to see the lady..."), and they approve of his judgment. Justice is a collective, courtly affair. In Artigat, the village community is deeply divided. They act as witnesses, gossips, and opinion-makers. Public opinion heavily influences the trial's progression, demonstrating the power of a local community in the face of formal justice. The judges themselves are swayed by the community's beliefs.
Part 3: Folklore and Fairy Tales
- Fairy Tale Tropes in Bisclavret:
1. Animal Groom/Monstrous Husband: Bisclavret is a nobleman who is secretly a monster (werewolf), a common trope found in tales like "Beauty and the Beast." The story explores the wife's reaction to this revelation.
2. Symbolic Punishment: The wife's punishment (losing her nose) is not practical but symbolic. In folklore, physical marks often reflect moral or spiritual corruption. It serves as a permanent, visible sign of her treachery. - Folk Tale Elements in Martin Guerre: The story's power comes from its blend of the real and the folkloric. Key elements include:
- The Impostor: The theme of a stranger successfully taking another's place is a timeless and compelling narrative trope.
- The Impossible Dilemma: Bertrande's situation—caught between two men, public duty, and private knowledge—is the kind of high-stakes moral quandary at the heart of many folk tales.
- The Dramatic Reveal: The sudden appearance of the true Martin Guerre in the courtroom is a highly dramatic climax, similar to the moment a spell is broken or a hidden identity is revealed in a fairy tale.
Part 4: Synthesis and Argument
A strong response should formulate a clear thesis and support it. There are two primary defensible positions:
- Argument for Bisclavret's Wife as the Greater Threat: She threatened the core feudal bond of personal loyalty between a lord (her husband) and his vassal (herself, in a spousal sense) and between the king and his baron. By causing a nobleman to disappear, she disrupted the social and military hierarchy. Her alliance with another knight to betray her husband represented a fracturing of the noble class from within. Her crime was against the fundamental, personal bonds upon which her entire society was built.
- Argument for Bertrande de Rols as the Greater Threat: She posed a threat to a more modern, institutional framework. By initially accepting an impostor, she undermined the legal and religious sanctity of marriage, a cornerstone of 16th-century society. By later accusing him, she challenged the ability of the patriarchal legal system to determine truth, forcing it to admit its own fallibility. She demonstrated that a woman's testimony could throw property rights, lineage, and legal identity into chaos, making her a threat to the state's power to regulate society and define reality. Her case questioned the very basis of identity and knowledge in a way Bisclavret's wife's did not.
The best answers will acknowledge the validity of the other side but argue firmly for one, using the concepts of feudal loyalty vs. state/legal order as the basis for comparison.