As a feminist growing up in a increasingly feminist society, The Wife of Marin Guerre struck a note for me more so than the movie. Love is beautiful, however, when someone gets a love they don’t deserve from someone they don’t deserve, that lacks justice, and justice occurs naturally around us through the principle of karma. Bertrande is a strong and empowered woman. This wasn’t an ordinary personality trait for women in the 1500’s. In fact, in countless towns, it was frowned upon. Feminism wasn’t even a potential idea yet let alone a movement. Regardless, realistically, Bertrande would not have stuck around with the man who left her “in the full beauty of her youth” (Lewis, 26). It wouldn’t be reasonable for her to do so. She was alone for …show more content…
The sisters tell Bertrande that the truth “is only the truth for you, not for us…you would destroy us all. We shall never be happy again. The farm will never prosper again.” (Lewis, 76) The sisters ask Bertrande to lie only to save them. They don’t question whether that will be a just decision or if it is an appropriate move for Bertrande’s future. They just desire to maintain their wealth and reputation. Bertrande debates whether it is a smart idea to turn Arnaud in because that would make her out to be an adulteress. Every thought, every word, and every action is followed through with in a selfish manner. This isn’t the proper way for a community to function. If the definition of community is “A group of people living together in one place, especially one practicing common ownership” (Oxford English Dictionary or even simply “A body of nations or states unified by common interests” (Oxford English Dictionary), then this group of merging families aren’t a community. They are working separately together, and that’s bound for failure. A community must work together and listen to one another to even consider themselves a community. Otherwise, they’re just a group of people