Contextual knowledge is knowledge about the time and place in which a story takes place which is not given within the story. The Wife of Martin Guerre, by Janet Lewis, is a novel about a woman in sixteenth century France who is deserted by her husband. Eight years later, an impostor arrives and assumes his place, unnoticed by all but the wife of the true Martin Guerre. An understanding of the historical, social and cultural contexts of the time and place in which the novel is set will allow the reader to gain a better understanding of the themes of justice, women’s place in society and religion and authority in The Wife of Martin Guerre.
The reader’s contextual knowledge of the historical context of sixteenth century France assists in understanding the themes related to the issue of justice presented in the novel. A theme that is understood more deeply by a reader’s knowledge of by historical information is the difference between moral justice and legal or patriarchal justice. Some historical contextual information that would have affected the reader’s interpretation of this theme includes the awareness of the feudal system as was prevalent in sixteenth century France, as well as a basic understanding of the patriarchal system and the French legal system of the time. In the courtrooms of sixteenth century France, a greater weight was placed on the testimonies of people of higher class. A nobleman’s statement would be worth much more then a poor peasants. The value placed on the testimonies of the Guerre family is related to the theme of legal justice versus moral justice in two ways, firstly by the intrinsic value of how their class mattered at all and secondly by affecting the outcome of the trials in the novel which were significant in presenting the theme. According to Aristotle, “The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law”. This was not the case in the legal trials in The Wife of Martin Guerre where class is taken into...