Comparing Griet's 'Girl With A Pear Earring'

Griet narrates with wonderfully reminiscent, vivid and modest similes and metaphors: “I could hear rich carpets in their voices, books and pearls and fur.” and “My mother’s voice- a cooking pot, a flagon.” Girl with a Pear Earring has a conventional aesthetics that is more popular with us-young adult audience. The narrative structure is one of a familiar style and is easy to read, as they contain familiar conventions of storytelling. This is evident when Griet says “At first I could not meet his eyes. When I did it was like sitting close to a fire that suddenly blazes up.”
Tracy Chevalier uses both figurative and literal imagery to vividly describe the characters. An example of figurative language is when Vermeer’s wife-Catharina voice, is …show more content…
By the end of the novel, Griet finally let’s go of her insecurities, with Vermeer having a major reason for this. Griet says ‘Each point indicated a direction I could take This narrative style is easy to follow and uses a more conventional sentence and grammar structure to stimulate the readers view of the novel. It can be seen in Girl with a Pearl Earring, the ideologies are much more progressive than the ideologies of the 17th century, which was the setting of the novel. Behaviour in our society that is considered acceptable today would be viewed harshly by people of the 17th century. For example, the painting of Griet in the pearl earrings, her body language and dress is different to the views of society today. Her mouth is open, which back then signified a more sexual stance. Vermeer orders Griet to leave her mouth open when painting her. “I was so surprised by this request that my mouth remained open of its own will. I blinked back tears. Virtuous women did not open their mouths in painting.” Vermeer paints women in a more intimate and personal way, leaving the impression that they were not just random women being painted. Griet’s family is a working-class and not a wealthy-family, leaving Griet with the servant’s job. Griet took marrying Pieter very seriously as he will provide her with a more economic stable future. Even though Griet is an intelligent and bright girl, her class position determines how other people view her. With a few exceptions such as Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhoek, many character assume that she is a maid and only exists for their own comfort and convenience. Throughout the novel, Griet realises that when interacting with the higher class, they are not so different from her yet she will never enter their world and escape her less fortune class. The class position of different characters and how this defines their choices in society is a major ideology of Girl with