Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
This is a mere interpretation of the book, and may not necessarily coincide with the author's ideas. In Vermeer's words, " 'It's not the painting that is Catholic or Protestant...but the people who look at it, and what they expect to see.' " A piece of work is meant to be enjoyed and interpreted by various people, and it is only then that the piece would seem more colourful.
The gist of the story here, which can be found on any site like Wikipedia, is that sixteen-year-old Griet is sent to work as a maid at the Vermeers' because her father , the sole breadwinner, had gotten involved in an accident and lost the use of his eyes. At her time there, Vermeer's wife (Catharina) and second daughter, Cornelia, gave her a lot of trouble. This was because Vermeer, who never trusted anyone in his house to go up to his studio, actually allowed Griet to clean there.
Griet started to admire her master as he went about his work quietly. He gradually increased his trust in her as he allowed her to even make his paints and be a stand-in model at times.
At the same time, Pieter, the butcher's son, showed interest in Griet and told her of his desire to marry her when she turned eighteen.
The story ends in a culmination of various factors. One of Vermeer's rich but licentious customers, van Rujiven, took a fancy to Griet and insisted on being painted with her. In a bid to protect Griet from a previous scandal that a similar painting of van Rujiven and another maid had caused, Vermeer decided to paint only Griet alone.
He finally chose his wife's pearl earrings to complete Griet's portrait. As Catharina highly prized her earrings, she was devastated when she found out what had been done. She created a scene not long after the painting was completed, and Griet took the chance to leave and agree to Pieter's marriage proposal (she had turned eighteen by then).
Ten years later, Griet was called back to the Vermeers, where Catharina awaited reluctantly. Vermeer had died two months ago, and had included in his will for Griet to have the pair of pearl earrings she had worn for his painting. Griet decided to pawn the earrings.
Throughout the book, one is kept in suspense about Griet's life, despite being the omnipresent reader. Many thoughts run through her head; yet her actions prevent us from fully understanding what Griet is about to do. The book manages to scatter its pearls in uneven portions, at times satisfying us to our heart's content, and at others, tantalizing to no end.
Catharina seems detestable, but she is the character who ought to be pitied most. Imagine being the wife of a famous painter, but not allowed to even step into your husband's studio and not ever being painted by him. (Tanneke, a senior maid, later tells Griet that it's because Catharina is clumsy and unable to keep still enough for an artist) She had eleven children altogether despite the family's tight finances, but one can guess that her reason for doing so was probably to affirm his love for her. A pity that she failed to see that males treat sex and love separately.
Griet's sister (Agnes) dies early in a plague, and her brother (Frans) was sent away for a tile-painting apprenticeship by his eager father. As a result, she lost two people she could confide in, although she did confide once in her brother about the lecherous van Rujiven and how she had been sent away from the house by Maria Thins (Catharina's mother) so as to avoid being seen by him. Her shrewd brother managed to detect her fancies for Vermeer, and said it aloud to her, which confirms our continual suspicion of her feelings for him.
See what I mean about how readers can't fully know Griet's thoughts? All the while, whatever we know of her thoughts are merely her avoidance of thinking about her master romantically because it is morally wrong. And this, we only manage to confirm after Frans verbalises it for us.
Griet is the ancient two-timer, as she responds to Pieter's affections despite being in love with her master. I must admit I was shocked that she allowed Pieter to touch her body freely, but decided to handle such graphic information with more maturity to be in tune with Griet's. Griet is a shrewd judge of character as can be seen from how she decided on her first day that Cornelia and Catharina would give her a lot of trouble, as well as wise in her ways of dealing with Tanneke and Maria Thins. She trusted Pieter to be a good man, and so should we.
It is after Vermeer asks Griet to assist him in his work that she started lying, and that is when we can understand that lies are not always evil. Lying has always been idealistically seen as a downright sin, but when you are lying to prevent hurt and worry, it can't be always evil.
Griet wears a cap to keep her head covered as most respectable women of her time do, but she is fiercely protective of her hair as she does not allow anyone to see her in her untamed long brown hair. In her own words,
"My hair was long and could not be tamed. When it was uncovered it seemed to belong to another Griet - a Griet who would stand in an alley alone with a man, who was not so calm and quiet and clean. A Griet like the women who dared to bare their heads. That was why I kept my hair completely hidden - so that there would be no trace of that Griet."
Vermeer insisted that she cover her hair with some other cloth for his portrait of her. One day, while she was changing into that cloth, he saw her with her hair "in waves over [her] shoulders, brown like fields in the autumn". After that incident, Griet somehow feels as if she no longer has anything precious to guard, and thus runs to Pieter to lose her virginity to him.
The entire novel's atmosphere has one that is like this portrait:
In a tunnel where hopelessness prevails (everything but the pearl earrings) but has a sliver of light (the pearl earrings) at the end.
Griet is stuck as a maid in the Vermeers' subject to Catharina and Cornelia's subtle torture while not being able to voice out her misery, but enjoying the attention from Vermeer while he trusted her above everyone else with his works and painted her while he had never even painted his wife before. The other part of her sliver of light lay in the likes of Pieter's ultimate marriage proposal, which she accepted after she left the Vermeers'.
Indirectly, it was Catharina's pearl earrings that provided the impetus for Griet to finally leave her job. Pieter had proposed to her earlier in the morning, but she had rejected him as he had done so randomly, just before she was about to model for Vermeer and made himself loud enough for the children and Tanneke to hear him.
Right after Griet returned from meeting Pieter, Vermeer expresses his desire for Griet for the first time in the form of a light caress on her swollen left earlobe, neck, face and lips after he wears an earring for her at her request. Griet responds by licking his thumb. I think perhaps Vermeer did love Griet because she was more able to relate to what his passion was - art - than his wife. If they had met at the right time, I think they would get together.
Maria Thins, who had always been on Griet's side, had aided her in wearing Catharina's pearl earrings secretly. Griet had pierced her own left ear using clove oil and a needle, with great pain, just for her master. Even though Griet managed to return the earrings before her mistress came home from a friend's house (by then, the painting was completed), Cornelia told her mother about the earrings and caused all the trouble. To Catharina, the thorn in her flesh (as she had always been jealous that her husband treated a maid better than her) wearing her precious pearl earrings was more than she could bear, and she thus made a scene over it. At that, Griet decides that it is time she left the Vermeers' and ran away, leaving us to wonder what the next step of her life might be.
Ten years later, Griet is happily married to Pieter and has two sons. Tanneke visits her at the butcher's where she is serving, to send a message from Catharina, who had asked to see her. Griet meets Catharina, who passes her the earrings at her late husband's wishes. Griet obtains some form of closure at Vermeer's death and on receiving the pearl earrings. Just like receiving light and sharing it with others, she pawns the earrings and gets twenty guilders (their currency) for them, and passes fifteen guilders to Pieter (and keeps the remaining five, which she never intends to spend), which the Vermeers owed him for their meat and never did return. Clearing the debt is a symbol of her final freedom from the Vermeers.
The gist of the story here, which can be found on any site like Wikipedia, is that sixteen-year-old Griet is sent to work as a maid at the Vermeers' because her father , the sole breadwinner, had gotten involved in an accident and lost the use of his eyes. At her time there, Vermeer's wife (Catharina) and second daughter, Cornelia, gave her a lot of trouble. This was because Vermeer, who never trusted anyone in his house to go up to his studio, actually allowed Griet to clean there.
Griet started to admire her master as he went about his work quietly. He gradually increased his trust in her as he allowed her to even make his paints and be a stand-in model at times.
At the same time, Pieter, the butcher's son, showed interest in Griet and told her of his desire to marry her when she turned eighteen.
The story ends in a culmination of various factors. One of Vermeer's rich but licentious customers, van Rujiven, took a fancy to Griet and insisted on being painted with her. In a bid to protect Griet from a previous scandal that a similar painting of van Rujiven and another maid had caused, Vermeer decided to paint only Griet alone.
He finally chose his wife's pearl earrings to complete Griet's portrait. As Catharina highly prized her earrings, she was devastated when she found out what had been done. She created a scene not long after the painting was completed, and Griet took the chance to leave and agree to Pieter's marriage proposal (she had turned eighteen by then).
Ten years later, Griet was called back to the Vermeers, where Catharina awaited reluctantly. Vermeer had died two months ago, and had included in his will for Griet to have the pair of pearl earrings she had worn for his painting. Griet decided to pawn the earrings.
Throughout the book, one is kept in suspense about Griet's life, despite being the omnipresent reader. Many thoughts run through her head; yet her actions prevent us from fully understanding what Griet is about to do. The book manages to scatter its pearls in uneven portions, at times satisfying us to our heart's content, and at others, tantalizing to no end.
Catharina seems detestable, but she is the character who ought to be pitied most. Imagine being the wife of a famous painter, but not allowed to even step into your husband's studio and not ever being painted by him. (Tanneke, a senior maid, later tells Griet that it's because Catharina is clumsy and unable to keep still enough for an artist) She had eleven children altogether despite the family's tight finances, but one can guess that her reason for doing so was probably to affirm his love for her. A pity that she failed to see that males treat sex and love separately.
Griet's sister (Agnes) dies early in a plague, and her brother (Frans) was sent away for a tile-painting apprenticeship by his eager father. As a result, she lost two people she could confide in, although she did confide once in her brother about the lecherous van Rujiven and how she had been sent away from the house by Maria Thins (Catharina's mother) so as to avoid being seen by him. Her shrewd brother managed to detect her fancies for Vermeer, and said it aloud to her, which confirms our continual suspicion of her feelings for him.
See what I mean about how readers can't fully know Griet's thoughts? All the while, whatever we know of her thoughts are merely her avoidance of thinking about her master romantically because it is morally wrong. And this, we only manage to confirm after Frans verbalises it for us.
Griet is the ancient two-timer, as she responds to Pieter's affections despite being in love with her master. I must admit I was shocked that she allowed Pieter to touch her body freely, but decided to handle such graphic information with more maturity to be in tune with Griet's. Griet is a shrewd judge of character as can be seen from how she decided on her first day that Cornelia and Catharina would give her a lot of trouble, as well as wise in her ways of dealing with Tanneke and Maria Thins. She trusted Pieter to be a good man, and so should we.
It is after Vermeer asks Griet to assist him in his work that she started lying, and that is when we can understand that lies are not always evil. Lying has always been idealistically seen as a downright sin, but when you are lying to prevent hurt and worry, it can't be always evil.
Griet wears a cap to keep her head covered as most respectable women of her time do, but she is fiercely protective of her hair as she does not allow anyone to see her in her untamed long brown hair. In her own words,
"My hair was long and could not be tamed. When it was uncovered it seemed to belong to another Griet - a Griet who would stand in an alley alone with a man, who was not so calm and quiet and clean. A Griet like the women who dared to bare their heads. That was why I kept my hair completely hidden - so that there would be no trace of that Griet."
Vermeer insisted that she cover her hair with some other cloth for his portrait of her. One day, while she was changing into that cloth, he saw her with her hair "in waves over [her] shoulders, brown like fields in the autumn". After that incident, Griet somehow feels as if she no longer has anything precious to guard, and thus runs to Pieter to lose her virginity to him.
The entire novel's atmosphere has one that is like this portrait:
In a tunnel where hopelessness prevails (everything but the pearl earrings) but has a sliver of light (the pearl earrings) at the end.
Griet is stuck as a maid in the Vermeers' subject to Catharina and Cornelia's subtle torture while not being able to voice out her misery, but enjoying the attention from Vermeer while he trusted her above everyone else with his works and painted her while he had never even painted his wife before. The other part of her sliver of light lay in the likes of Pieter's ultimate marriage proposal, which she accepted after she left the Vermeers'.
Indirectly, it was Catharina's pearl earrings that provided the impetus for Griet to finally leave her job. Pieter had proposed to her earlier in the morning, but she had rejected him as he had done so randomly, just before she was about to model for Vermeer and made himself loud enough for the children and Tanneke to hear him.
Right after Griet returned from meeting Pieter, Vermeer expresses his desire for Griet for the first time in the form of a light caress on her swollen left earlobe, neck, face and lips after he wears an earring for her at her request. Griet responds by licking his thumb. I think perhaps Vermeer did love Griet because she was more able to relate to what his passion was - art - than his wife. If they had met at the right time, I think they would get together.
Maria Thins, who had always been on Griet's side, had aided her in wearing Catharina's pearl earrings secretly. Griet had pierced her own left ear using clove oil and a needle, with great pain, just for her master. Even though Griet managed to return the earrings before her mistress came home from a friend's house (by then, the painting was completed), Cornelia told her mother about the earrings and caused all the trouble. To Catharina, the thorn in her flesh (as she had always been jealous that her husband treated a maid better than her) wearing her precious pearl earrings was more than she could bear, and she thus made a scene over it. At that, Griet decides that it is time she left the Vermeers' and ran away, leaving us to wonder what the next step of her life might be.
Ten years later, Griet is happily married to Pieter and has two sons. Tanneke visits her at the butcher's where she is serving, to send a message from Catharina, who had asked to see her. Griet meets Catharina, who passes her the earrings at her late husband's wishes. Griet obtains some form of closure at Vermeer's death and on receiving the pearl earrings. Just like receiving light and sharing it with others, she pawns the earrings and gets twenty guilders (their currency) for them, and passes fifteen guilders to Pieter (and keeps the remaining five, which she never intends to spend), which the Vermeers owed him for their meat and never did return. Clearing the debt is a symbol of her final freedom from the Vermeers.
Labels: book review
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