Martin Guerre
... knowledge of punishment being given where it is due, shows his awareness of the uselessness of avoiding jurisdiction, "‘when he returns and confesses his crime and has borne his punishment, I shall withdraw my anger. Until that time…my anger shall exist’", hence promoting the improper nature of his deserting of the family. On his return at the trial, Martin’s unsuitably harsh blame of Bertrande forces her to leave Toulouse. The departure of her husband triggers Bertrande's loneliness and hence her acceptance of the stranger as her husband. Bertrande’s passionate nature is the main cause of her intense suffering, "her heart unreasonably demanded his return, and that quickly". This accounts for the initial deception to which Bertrande succumbs and admits to in the trial, "my sin was occasioned only by my great desire for your presence". However, she is aware of minute differences, noticed by apparently her alone from the outset, "as he advanced from the shadow he seemed to Bertrande a stranger". As time goes on, Bertrande’s joy at her husband’s return is tainted by the innermost fear that the man was an imposter, "her sin, if such indeed were a fact, would be most black, for had she not experienced an instinctive warning?" Bertrande herself even admits her increased passion and delight in bearing a child that may be illegitimate, "Yet even this love was intensified…by the persistent illusion…that this man was not Martin". This reinforces the fact that despite her suspicions, she continued a relationship with the stranger, "‘the error into which you plunged could only have been caused by wilful blindness’". Bertrande at last finds peace from her acceptance of the results of the trial, "leaving the love which she had rejected because it was forbidden, and the love which had rejected her". It is clear, however, from her actions that she has in no small measure contributed to her own isolation from Artigues, which comes with her "bitter, solitary justice". Despite his obvious full knowledge of impersonating another man, Arnaud du Tilh continues to protest his credibility. Arnaud, although originally set on committing the sin for financial reasons, continues to impersonate Martin because of his unexpected love for Bertrande, "‘the rogue… for your beauty and grace, became for three long years an honest man’". His "firm entrenchment" in the Guerre household is an advantage to the farm, "the estate prospered surprisingly after the return of the master", and brings happiness to himse...