Cooper Glenn
1/27/15
Maid or Mistresses
In the book the Girl with the Pearl Earring Vermeer has a reasonable, at times questionable relationship with the main character Griet, however in the movie the two share an obviously inappropriate relationship. The relationship is a highlight both the movie and the book, nevertheless portrayed very differently. In the novel the relationship is questionable at times but it never is seen as clearly inappropriate. On the other hand the movie portrays the relationship as clearly inappropriate. This is seen throughout the book and the movie. One of the first times the viewer sees it is when Vermeer is caught looking at Griet in the movie which he does not do in the book. The second time the viewer sees this is when Vermeer pierces Griet’s ear in the movie when in the book she does it herself. The third time this inappropriate relationship is seen is when Vermeer paints Griet in the movie there is an exceptional amount of feeling being thrown around compared to the book where it is reasonably dull.

In the book Griet is hired as a maid for the Vermeer’s to upkeep their house, and that is exactly what she does. The second Griet arrives at the Vermeer’s she meets the children of the family and then starts to clean and do laundry. She is a hard worker and she realizes she is paid to do one thing, clean and she does. She realizes that her master Vermeer is possibly interested in her as he gives her more privileges than the other members of the house. However her main priority is to clean and do what she is paid for, she does this for the majority of the book. However Griet’s priorities change much faster is the movie as her master Vermeer starts to take interest in her. She realizes this interest when she catches Vermeer gazing at her multiple times (Webber, The Girl With The Pearl Earring.) This shows that he is obviously looking at her as more than just a maid.

Another example of the relationship is shown throughout the book it shows how much time they spend together. Though the book Vermeer and Griet do not spend much time together especially in the beginning. Griet rarely sees Vermeer and when she does they do not talk much. The first real interaction the two have is in the studio, looking at his box. “There, Griet it is ready. Go on look.”(pg.56). This interaction is brief and does not hold much importance. The next big interaction the two have is before the painting when Griet Pierces her own ear so she can where the earrings. On the other hand we have the same thing happen except it holds much more value in the movie. In the movie Griet has to put the earring in but this time Vermeer does it for her. This leads to a more than friendly scene. (Webber, The Girl With The Pearl Earring.) Vermeer pierces her ear and the two catch each other’s eyes and one could