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Who Is Greit's Father Figure

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When an object we desire becomes unavailable to us, we often search for a replacement. It economics this is called a substitute good, in a relationship this is called a rebound, and in Freudian terms, this is called displacement. In the movie, girl with a pearl earring, Greit creates a chain of displacement, when she displaces her fathers love onto Vermeer and then her attraction to Vermeer onto Pieter. The initiating event in TGWTPE is the moment Greit’s father goes blind due to a work accident. Greit’s father is a very important figure to her. Greit often carried around a memoir of her father, a tile he had made specifically for her. As she leaves her home to go and work for the Vermeer family, it appears that her fathers tile is her only …show more content…

Vermeer, similarly to greits father, is an artist. He is a painter for a living, and is a father figure himself, with many kids and a wife named Catharina. The disposition of an artist and a familiarity of a father, all similar to her own father, is what drew Greit to Vermeer from the beginning. Vermeer was never hostile with Greit. He never pushed her away when she came into his world. In fact, he invited her into it, even using his higher authority to push her into it. It started slowly, with Vermeer introducing Greit to his new camera, and discussing the color of clouds, then to inviting her to be around as he worked. These moments impacted Greit the most. Her father being an artist, it is safe to assume that she has been around and has spent time with her father as he did his craft and that she could find it comforting. The relation of her father and his tile work to Vermeer with his paintings is not a direct reflection. Not all displacements are exact, however both are art forms making painting relate to tile making, when discussing displacement, in a valid way. The one pivoting difference however between Greit’s father and Vermeer, is that Vermeer is sexually obtainable. He’s an object not forbidden through biology, and through his mystery and familiarity, Vermeer and Greits relationship turns from familial to …show more content…

Being of age often means that a girl is experiencing changes both physically and mentally. Physically speaking she is growing more and filling out her shape as a woman. Mentally speaking, Greit is experiencing sexual urges and frustrations. Vermeer and Greit often engaged with eachother in sexually tense moments. The most notable moments are when Vermeer and Greit just stare at eachother deeply, not moving, challenging the other to make a move. There are many occasions where they stare at each other intensely. When Greit is making paints for Vermeer and he grabs her hands under his, moving them together, she stares directly at him, unwavering. The physical contact, on top of the very suggestive movement of the hands topped with the deep stares resonates sexual tension. When Greit is taking off her hair wrap, letting her hair fall, to find Vermeer staring her down only to stare at her back is an even stronger example. He’s seen her hair in this scene, a symbol of her sexuality, of her femininity, yet when she notices him staring she doesn’t rush to hide it, she stands there and stares back as if to ask, “what now.” They both acknowledge and are aware of the tension. Biologically there is nothing holding them back from each other however; the biggest hurdle of their relationship is social status. Vermeer is not only a married man, but on a different social level than Greit. His status as a painter of a

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