Reader's response - "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (p.110-169)

SUMMARY:

Griet is really happy for sleeping in the attic because during the night she can go downstairs to the studio and admiring Vermeer’s painting while everybody is asleep. Tanneke and Cornelia still don’t like Griet, so her life in the house is not getting any easier. Pieter, the son, starts going to Griet family’s church almost every Sunday, so her parents see that Pieter is a good man for Griet; even though, she thinks she is too young to think in marriage. One day, Griet’s parents invite Pieter for dinner and he accepts the invitation. After dinner Griet walks with him until the end of the street, and in an alley she lets Pieter kisses her. Vermeer finishes the bakery’s daughter painting and starts a new one, van Ruijven’s wife. Lately, Griet has spent more time in the attic and studio, even when van Ruijven’s wife comes for her painting. When van Ruijven’s wife cannot make it, Griet poses for Vermeer where she is supposed to be sitting. Everything seems to be fine at Papists’, until Cornelia switches her mother’s tortoiseshell combs for Griet grandmother’s combs; which are very similar to each other and, makes Catharina sees that the combs is missing. Griet asks for help to Vermeer, who somehow shows that Cornelia was the one who switched the combs. Now, it is clear that Griet has Vermeer’s support in the house what impresses Maria Thins, who says that a maid never had caused so much trouble before. There is a gossip at the market hall that Vermeer will paint Griet with van Ruijven, what worries Griet because her mother and Pieter hear about it, too. So Griet talks to Maria Thins about the gossip and she says to Griet do not worry about it because she will take care of it. Until, one morning Vermeer calls Griet to the studio and asks her to sit down on a chair already positioned by him. At first, she doesn’t know what Vermeer wants, but when he asks her to look at him she realizes what is happening; Vermeer is going to paint Griet.

PART I LIKED:

When Griet lets Pieter, the son, kiss her for the first time at the alley (p.121). Even though, it doesn’t sound romantic because Griet is more interested in Vermeer, I still believe she will end up with Pieter.

CONFUSING PART:

After the kiss Pieter tries to take off Griet’s cap to see her hair, but Griet moves away from Pieter. According to Griet the reason she keeps her hair inside the cap it is because she doesn’t have enough money to dress her hair. However, I believe there is another reason why she keeps her hair completely hidden. On page 122 the last sentence, Griet says “so that there would be no trace of that Griet.” Who is this other Griet that she is referring to?

QUESTIONS:

On page 152-153, van Ruijven and his wife are invited to have dinner at Vermeer’s, in order to celebrate the finishing of the painting. Maria Thins knows that van Ruijven is interested in Griet, yet she says to Tanneke that Griet will help her to serve the dinner. It looks like a recipe for disaster, so why Maria Thins decides to put Griet to serve the dinner with van Ruijven being one of the guests?


Vermeer reveals to Griet that he used to be Protestant before getting married (p.140). Why does he do this confession to Griet? Is he trying to show some kind of affection towards Griet?

INTERPRETATION:

Now, Griet is feeling the pressure of her family in getting marry to the “right” man because she is about to turn seventeen. Even though, she knows Pieter would be a better choice she is still debating her feelings towards Vermeer. Plus, if it wasn’t enough being in this situation, Griet caught also van Ruijven’s attention. I have to agree with Maria Thins, how come a simple maid can cause so much trouble? Griet is not only popular with the male party, but some of the women from Vermeer’s house do not like Griet; Catharina, Cornelia and Tanneke seem to be jealous of her, so they try to make Griet’s life very difficult at the house. However, if Griet chooses Pieter, she might have a better life without being underestimated because she is just a maid; she would be only Griet, maybe Griet – the butcher’s wife.