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Pieter led me to the alley later. There he began squeezing my breasts and pulling at their nipples through the cloth of my dress. Then he stopped suddenly, gave me a sly look, and ran his hands over my shoulder and up my neck. Before I could stop him his hands were under my cap and tangled in my hair.

I held my cap down with both hands. “No!”

Pieter smiled at me […] He had managed to pull loose a strand of my hair and tugged it now with his fingers. “Some day soon, Griet, I will see all of this. You will not always be a secret to me. […] You will be eighteen next month. I’ll speak to your father then.”

[…] “I am still so young. Too young for that.”

Pieter shrugged, “Not everyone waits until they’re older. And your family needs me.”

Explanation and Analysis:

Soon after Vermeer begins painting Griet in secret, she has this encounter with Pieter, who has made his affection and intentions quite clear and refuses to wait much longer before insisting that she marry him. Although Pieter seems to genuinel...

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Original

Romeo

(aside) She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse they name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Modern

Romeo

(to himself) She speaks. Speak again, bright angel! For tonight you are as glorious, there up above me, as a winged messenger of heaven who makes mortals fall onto their backs to gaze up with awestruck eyes as he strides across the lazy clouds and sails through the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why must you be Romeo? Deny your father and give up your name. Or, if you won’t change your name, just swear your love to me and I’ll give up being a Capulet.

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