How Did Griet Take Care To Remain Yourself Analysis

The Procuress hung on the wall that would form part of The Concert painting that Vermeer was painting of his patron van Ruijven and his daughter and sister. I think that the author had Griet focusing on this painting to remind her who she was. In other words, it helped her to remain decent and humble. Van Leeuwenhoek said to Griet, “Take care to remain yourself” (p. 186). When Griet started to work for the family she was exposed to a different environment. While working there she was also constantly reminded of a maid who was in a painting with van Ruijven. The maid was eventually caught having an affair with her master and ended up having a child of his. Her reputation was destroyed, and Griet feared that the same would happen to her as well.

On page 186, van Leeuwenhoek tells Griet, “You see, competition makes men possessive. He is interested in you in part because van Ruijven is.” Pieter the son seeks to have a relationship with her, while van Ruijven has an obsession with her. This has led Vermeer to believe that Griet is somewhat like the woman in the painting, The Procuress. On page 169, Griet describes the painting as, "a picture of three people--a woman playing a lute, wearing a dress that revealed much of her bosom, a gentleman with his arm around her, and an old woman. The man was buying the young woman 's favors, the old woman reaching to take the coin he held out.” Considering the fact that a Procuress is a woman who prostitutes, at the end of the book the painting is suppose to signify how Griet is the opposite of what the painting