Summary Of The Return Of Martin Guerre

Finlay’s book, The Refashioning of Martin Guerre corrects Davis’s errors when in her book, The Return of Martin Guerre because it has many incorrect facts that were not shared when Coras wrote his book, Arrest Memorable in the sixteenth century.
To begin, Davis’s intent was to take a different interpretation of the story of Martin Guerre, which ends up being incorrect. Finlay describes Davis’s interpretation as “imaginatively conceived, eloquently argued, and instructionally appealing. It is also strikingly different from the version of the story accepted since the sixteenth century.” (Finlay, pg. 555) When compared to the older book written, Davis does several things to make her book sound different from the others, such as making the main character of the book Bertrande de Rols rather than Coras’s main character, Arnaud or how the relationship of Bertrande and Arnaud was logical. However this makes Davis’s writing sound completely different story than from how Coras wrote his.

A good example of a character is Bertrande.Coras describes Bertrande as “ “given the weakness of sex, (was) easily deceived by the cunning and craftiness of men.” (Davis, pg 110). He (Coras) considered her ignorant of Arnaud 's true identity, hence innocent of wrongdoing.” (Finlay, pg 555) Davis however describes Bertrande as known more as an honorable and independent character who acts more like a hero rather than evil. This also does not make practical sense, because back in the sixteenth century, women often were silent, because women did not have the same as in the twentieth century, making them often not speaking their opinions. Because of these new characteristics Davis “does not yield a portrait of Bertrande that is either plausible or persuasive.” (Finlay, pg