The fresh Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier chronicles the life of a woman named Griet as she experiences love, hatred, jealousy, adversity, and other challenges while working as a maid in the household of the famous painter Vermeer. Catharina, Vermeer’s proud homemaker who gives birth to many children, plays a major role in the house. Her mother, Maria Thins, is wiser and handles most of the family’s business affairs. Griet often clashes with another maid named Tanneke, who becomes jealous of Griet at times, as do Catharina and her daughter Cornelia. Throughout the novel, Griet, Catharina, Tanneke, and Cornelia compete for Vermeer’s attention. Griet ultimately wins this conflict, but in essence, also loses because everyone in the family is trying to get rid of her. Vermeer admires Griet the most, which she likes, but it also puts her in the most vulnerable position in the family.
Cornelia is constantly seeking ways to get Griet into trouble with her mother, Catharina. She secretly searches all night for any way to annoy or upset Griet. This is partly due to her jealousy towards Griet and partly due to her desire to be closer to her father, Vermeer. It is apparent that Cornelia doesn’t just hold a grudge against maids, as she is only looking for ways to be a nuisance with Griet, never with Tanneke. Griet even says that Cornelia was out to get her: Cornelia had been waiting some time for this mischief. She had even managed somehow to get up in the attic and steal the powder” (113). This is the event in which Cornelia steals some of the red powder that Griet has been grinding for Vermeer and smudges it all over Griet’s apron. Cornelia does this hoping for Catharina to find out about Griet running special errands for Vermeer. This shows that Cornelia becomes so jealous of Griet that she even begins undertaking elaborate plans to get rid of her. Despite being a young girl, she knows that Griet and Vermeer are getting closer, and she wants to stop it. With Cornelia’s constant mischief, Griet is coming closer and closer to losing her job, just as Cornelia wants.
The other amah, Tanneke, is really covetous of Griet acquiring more regard from Vermeer and Maria Thins, and being treated better than her by them. Tanneke has worked with the Vermeer household for most of her life and she expects to be the most highly appreciated amah. However, all of a sudden, Griet, who has been working there for less than a year, earns Vermeer’s esteem. After Tanneke sees the red powder on Griet’s apron, she knows that Griet has been running special errands for Vermeer. She then visits Maria Thins about it, but Maria says something that causes Tanneke to never speak of it again. Although she never mentions the event again, she is never the same with Griet.
I never found out what Maria Thins said to Tanneke, what threats or promises she made to maintain her quiet. But it worked. She became much harder with me…” (114). This shows that Maria Thins respects Griet for assisting Vermeer with his pigments, hopefully helping him paint faster. Tanneke is very disquieted that a new maid suddenly earns more respect from Vermeer and Maria Thins than she has in her 15 years working there. As Tanneke grows even more jealous, she tries to get rid of Griet, making Vermeer’s esteem even more unstable.
The individual who is most afraid and intimidated by Griet’s developing relationship with Vermeer is Catharina. Since Griet first moved in, Catharina has held a grudge against her. As Griet gains Vermeer’s preference,” Catharina’s jealousy grows. Catharina cannot stand the fact that Griet is receiving more attention from Vermeer than she is, even though she is Vermeer’s wife. She has been seeking acceptance and affection from Vermeer, both of which she receives too little of to satisfy her needs. Catharina cannot believe that a lowly maid is receiving more attention from Vermeer than she has her entire life. When Catharina finds out that Vermeer has been secretly painting Griet, her anger and jealousy mount to a point where she can no longer bear it.
She eventually expresses her desire to receive attention from Vermeer. Catharina was no fool. She knew that the real issue was not the earrings. She wanted them to be. She tried to make them so, but she could not help herself. She turned to her husband and asked, ‘Why have you never painted me?'” (214). Catharina has likely been asking this question for most of her life with Vermeer. She could tolerate Vermeer painting Tanneke, but painting Griet is too much for her. This is the last straw for Catharina, and while she is contemplating firing Griet, Griet runs off without ever seeing the finished painting of herself.
Griet has the most desired place in the house, as everyone is seeking to be in her topographic point. However, this place is really hazardous as time wears on. Catharina, Tanneke, and Cornelia are all turning more covetous. As Griet becomes infatuated with Vermeer, she doesn’t recognize the dangerous situation she is in and that it will eventually lead to her ruin. Ultimately, being highly respected by Vermeer brings Catharina, who can no longer bear her husband’s high respect for Griet, to fire her. In the long term, this is both a good and bad thing for Griet. She can eventually get away from working as a maid and taking orders from Catharina and Maria Thins, and become her own woman in charge of herself. She controls her own fate. The bad side is that Griet never sees the true love of her life again because they go their separate ways, and he eventually dies. Pieter is a person that Griet uses to get away from the memories of Vermeer, but no matter what she does, she will always remember the warmth of Vermeer’s body in the winter, the feel of his hands upon hers, and the touch of his fingers upon her lips.
