The French peasantry in the sixteenth century emphasized socioeconomic relations, how economic positions affected social practices and standing. Davis’ highlights the important connection with French sayings that represented the impact of economics on social practices such as marriage, “‘Amour peut moult, argent peut tout,’” which simple translates to “‘love may do much, but money more’” (Davis 1). The French ‘adage’ explains that marriages were contracts arranged to ensure the exchanging of mutual economic benefits between families. The concept of money among the French peasantry not only affected economic standing, but it also reflected social reputation. As many psychologists have studied, and as society has proven, money and power are some …show more content…
On this cultural index, it is interesting to see that France is one of the only countries where the rare phenomenon of masculinity and femininity depend on the class of the individuals within that culture or society. Although the overall score for France is a 43 on Masculinity (relatively mid-low - a low score means low in Masculinity by comparison to other cultures), as applied to the wealthy French, the results displayed a more masculine life approach for the working class (Hofstede’s Dimensions Country Comparison- France). Davis accurately represents the cultural values in the historical account of The Return of Martin Guerre, as “the realities of this peasant world encouraged not only the skills of a good farm wife, but the woman’s ability to get her way with the men and calculate her advantages (especially in terms of inheritance), say, in remaining a widow. A wife of Artigat could never hope to have the position of the [noble or the Lady]... but she could hope to enjoy the respect of other village women and informal power as a widow…” (Davis …show more content…
With the disappearance of her husband, Martin Guerre, Bertrande was left with a reduced status in society, a status which was elevated significantly with the presence of the impostor. Being neither wife nor widow during the disappearance of Martin Guerre, Arnaud made it possible for Bertrande to return to the social life and expectations of the (admired) peasantry, while also advancing her economically, as “the new Martin developed the Guerre holdings in commercial direction; he became a rural “merchant”... Bertrande de Rols must have been delighted with this turn of events, for the wife of a rural merchant often became a merchant herself” (Davis 52). The increasing successes of her “new” husband translated to her as well, so as she attained increasing responsibility and economic opportunity, so too did her social standing rise. In regards to her motivations, the conclusion that Bertrande was an accomplice to Arnaud is sound, as Bertrande’s economic motivations reflected the Masculine motivations of the French peasantry. As Arnaud provided a greater economic opportunity, and in turn, an opportunity to rise socially, in order to remain in this elevated state, Bertrande had to defend Arnaud as the real Martin Guerre, or risk losing it all and returning to her previous position as a social