settings+in+'Girl+with+a+Pearl+Earring'

Could you please add your setting information, using a headline to convey which setting you have researched. More than one group will look at each setting, so keep the information together for ease of use. Thanks.

__Delft and Market Square__

__The Protestant and Catholic World__

__Domestic duties and the studio__ 1. __ What is the visual impact? Provide a graphic or written explanation. __ Imagery used to describe the domestic duties and the studio helps to set the scene for the reader, and help to reinforce themes surrounding these aspects of the story.When Griet is describing her new surroundings in the Vermeer household, she makes connections between aspects of her old life, making it easier for the audience to connect to the setting. “The room gave off a clean, sharp odour of linseed oil that reminded me of my father’s clothes when he returned from the tile factory at night.” (Page 33)

// How is each setting/scenario presented? // 1. What is the visual impact? Provide a graphic or written explanation. The visual impact created in Chevalier’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is vividly explained through the character Griet, as she describes her domestic duties and the studio. Her obsessive nature influences her perspective in an interesting way, which creates an impact on the reader, where the finer details are explained. In this way, a greater depth into these settings is conveyed. 2. How is the language used to create this visual impact? Provide evidence from the text in your response. Formal, yet descriptive language is used to create this visual impact, whereby which the smallest details are evaluated, which describes the setting as a whole. For example, page 33 gives a description of the studio: “A table had been pushed up against the window on the right, with a chair set in the corner.” This emphasises her attention to detail, and hence her obsessive nature. She uses lists to convey her many obligations, for example, page 25: “I continued to pull down and fold bed sheets, napkins, pillowcases, tablecloths, shirts, chemises, aprons, handkerchiefs, collars, caps.” 3. Describe Griet’s response to this setting. What tone is created to show her attitude? How is this achieved? Provide evidence from the text in your response. Due to her obsessive compulsive nature, Griet enjoys her domestic duties, as she feels the need to clean. She also enjoys cleaning the studio due to her infatuation with Vermeer. Griet’s tone is of a proud nature, for example “It was very clean for the feast” (pg. 84), which shows her dedication to her work. This is achieved through the use of concrete metaphors, for example, “…like bruises on the body that fade to hard lumps under the skin.” (pg. 78). This quote is used in relation to her cleaning duties, where she feels that cleaning has “lost importance”, but still she continues to do them. This further conveys her response to the setting, in that her duties have become just her routine.

The visual impact of her domestic duties is represented through the contrast of the social classes which is explored throughout the novel. In comparison to Griet’s old simplistic house, the Vermeer household is portrayed as a more spacious and elaborate house decorated with numerous articles of wealth, such as the various paintings and pearl earrings. “……………………………” The studio is revealed as a segregated room within the household in which only Griet and Vermeer can enter. It is place of only artistic sensibilities and this idea is emphasized when Vermeer confronts Catharina when she asks why she, herself, has not been painted by him, “You and the Children are not apart of this world…You are not meant to be” (pg.227). The art studio is considered to be of the same importance as the Crucifixion room as it is a sacred place of Vermeer and Griet whereas the Crucifixion room is important to the other members of the family. Whilst cleaning the room Griet must respect where all the objects are set and it is her duty to carry out cleaning without moving or misplacing any of the objects. “Of course you must move things, but you must find a way to put them back exactly so it looks as if nothing has been disturbed, as you do for your father now that he can’t see.” The language techniques throughout the novel relate to the artistic techniques of Vermeer as it is very precise and is portrayed with the finest of detail. It is as though Griet and Vermeer have a connection which he reveals through his paintings while she demonstrates through her descriptive language. (Pg. 34) - Description of room One setting which Griet quickly responds to is the cellar where she sleeps, before she moves upstairs to the attic. She is disturbed by the picture of Christ and is unable to sleep some nights, especially on the first night when she continually wakes up. The language Griet uses to describe the painting, reveal a morbid and distasteful tone. “ I lay back gingerly unable to take my eyes off it”.
 * Domestic duties and the studio **
 * What is the visual impact? **
 * How is language used to create this visual impact? Providence evidence from the text **
 * Describe Griet’s response to this setting. What tone is used and how is this achieved? **