''The Painted Veil'' is a 1925 novel by British author
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
. The title is a reference to
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
's
1824 sonnet, which begins "Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life".
The novel was first published in serialised form in five issues of ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
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* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
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* Cosmopoli ...
'' (November 1924 – March 1925). Beginning in May 1925, it was serialised in the United Kingdom in eight parts in ''
Nash's Magazine
''The Pall Mall Magazine'' was a monthly British literary magazine published between 1893 and 1914. Begun by William Waldorf Astor as an offshoot of ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', the magazine included poetry, short stories, serialized fiction, and ge ...
''.
The biographer Richard Cordell notes that the book was influenced by Maugham's study of science and his work as a
houseman at
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
.
[Cordell. Richard A. "Somerset Maugham at Eighty" in ''College English'', Vol. 15, No. 4 (Jan. 1954), pp. 201–207.] In the preface to his book, Maugham tells how the main characters were originally called Lane, but that this was subsequently changed to "Fane", following the success of a libel case against the publishers by a Hong Kong couple with the name of Lane. The couple were awarded £250. To avoid similar problems after
A. G. M. Fletcher, the then Assistant Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong, also threatened legal action, the name of the colony was changed to Tching-Yen.
[H. J. Lethbridge]
''Hong Kong Cadets, 1862–1941''
p. 56. Later editions reverted to Hong Kong but the name Fane was kept for all editions.
Plot summary
Maugham uses a third-person-limited point of view in this story, where Kitty Garstin is the
focal character
In any narrative, the focal character is the character on whom the audience is meant to place the majority of their interest and attention. They are almost always also the protagonist of the story; however, in cases where the "focal character" and ...
.
Garstin, a pretty upper-middle class debutante, squanders her early youth amusing herself by living a social high life, during which her domineering mother attempts to arrange a "brilliant match" for her. By age 25, Kitty has flirted with and declined marriage proposals from dozens of prospective husbands. Her mother, convinced that her eldest daughter has "missed her market", urges Kitty to settle for the rather “odd” Walter Fane, a bacteriologist and physician, who declares his love for Kitty. In a panic that her much younger, and less attractive, sister, Doris, will upstage her by marrying first, Kitty consents to Walter's ardent marriage proposition with the words, "I suppose so". Shortly before Doris's much grander wedding, Kitty and Walter depart as newlyweds to his post in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
.
Just weeks after settling in the Far East, Kitty meets Charlie Townsend, the Assistant Colonial Secretary. He is tall, handsome, urbane and extremely charming, and they begin an affair. Almost two years later, Walter, unsuspecting, and still devoted to his wife, observes Kitty and Charlie during an assignation, and the lovers, suspecting they've been discovered, reassure themselves that Walter will not intervene in the matter. Charlie promises Kitty that, come what may, he will stand by her. Aware that the cuckolded Walter is his administrative inferior, Charlie feels confident that the bacteriologist will avoid scandal to protect his career and reputation. For her part, Kitty, who has never felt real affection for her husband, grasps that, in fact, he is fully aware of her infidelity (though he initially refrains from confronting her) and she begins to despise his apparent cowardice. She discerns, however, an ominous change in his demeanour, masked by his scrupulous, punctilious behaviour.
Walter eventually confronts Kitty about the affair and gives her a choice; either accompany him to a village on the mainland beset by an outbreak of cholera, or submit to a public and socially humiliating divorce. Kitty goes to see Townsend who refuses to leave his wife. Their conversation, when she realises he doesn't wish to make a sacrifice for the relationship, unfolds gradually, as Kitty grasps Charlie's true nature. She is surprised to find when she returns home that Walter has already had her clothes packed, knowing Townsend would let her down. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Kitty decides she has no option but to accompany Walter to the cholera-infested mainland of China.
At first suspicious and bitter, Kitty finds herself embarked on a journey of self-appraisal. She meets Waddington, a British
deputy commissioner, who provides her with insights as to the unbecoming character of Charles. He further introduces her to the French nuns who, at great personal risk, are nursing the sick and orphaned children of the cholera epidemic. Walter has immersed himself in the difficulties of managing the cholera crisis. His character is held in high esteem by the nuns and the local officials because of his self-sacrifice and tenderness towards the suffering populace. Kitty, however, remains unable to feel attraction towards him as a man and husband. Kitty meets with the Mother Superior, an individual of great personal force, yet loved and respected. The nun allows Kitty to assist in caring for the older children at the convent, but will not permit her to engage with the sick and dying. Kitty's regard for her deepens and grows.
Kitty discovers that she is pregnant and suspects that Charles Townsend is the father. When Walter confronts her on the matter, she answers his inquiry by stating, "I don’t know". She cannot bring herself to deceive her husband again. Kitty has undergone a profound personal transformation. Soon after, Walter falls ill in the epidemic, possibly through experimenting upon himself to find a cure for cholera, and Kitty, at his deathbed, hears his last words.
She returns to Hong Kong where she is met by Dorothy Townsend, Charles's wife, who convinces Kitty to come to stay with them, as Kitty is now mistakenly regarded as a heroine who voluntarily and faithfully followed her husband into great danger. At the Townsend house, much against her intentions, she is seduced by Charlie and makes love with him once more despite admitting he is vain and shallow, much as she once was. She is disgusted with herself and tells him what she thinks of him.
Kitty returns to Britain, discovering en route that her mother has died. Her father, a reasonably successful barrister, is appointed Chief Justice of a minor British colony in the Caribbean (the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
) and she persuades him to allow her to accompany him there. She decides to dedicate her life to her father and ensuring that her child is brought up avoiding the mistakes she had made.
Adaptations
The novel has been adapted for the stage and film several times:
Theatre
* ''The Painted Veil'' (19 September 1931 – 9 April 1932) at
The Playhouse, London
[
]
Film
* ''
The Painted Veil'' (1934)
* ''
The Seventh Sin
''The Seventh Sin'' is a 1957 American drama film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Eleanor Parker, Bill Travers and George Sanders. It is based on the 1925 novel '' The Painted Veil'' by W. Somerset Maugham.
Plot
In post-World War II Hong ...
'' (1957)
* ''
The Painted Veil'' (2006)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Painted Veil, The
1925 British novels
Adultery in novels
British novels adapted into films
Novels by W. Somerset Maugham
Novels first published in serial form
Novels set in China
Novels set in Hong Kong
Works originally published in Cosmopolitan (magazine)