Based on the narrator's reading characterizes the woman in the portrait and her relationship with the artist.

The girl (wife) looks like she is coming of age into womanhood. She seems almost life-like in the painting. She is very beautiful. The narrator reads the wife's dislike of her husband's art eventually comes into conflict with his love for the painting when he asks her to sit as a model for a portrait. She dislikes the idea, but being a modest and obedient wife, she agrees to sit in the dark tower where the only light comes from above so that he can paint. The painter is passionate about the painting, but because of his moodiness and dreaminess, he does not notice that she is wasting away in the dark. Nevertheless, she does not complain and continues to smile for his portrait because she knows that her husband is obsessed with his project.