Somerset Maugham
This review contains spoilers
This was my second reading of The Painted Veil, and just like my second read of The Blue Flower I got much more out of it the second time round. The title is taken from a short poem by Shelly, that begins, “Lift not the painted veil, which those who live call life”. Maugham constructs the novel round the core ideas in this poem.
Synopsis
The Painted Veil is the story of Kitty Fane, a young, self-absorbed socialite who marries Walter Fane, a dedicated bacteriologist, more to escape her over-bearing mother than for love. Finding herself in Hong Kong, bored with her life and unfulfilled in her marriage, Kitty embarks on an affair with a charming colonial officer Charles Townsend. When Walter discovers the betrayal, he gives her a stark ultimatum: either leave him for Townsend or accompany him to a remote, cholera-ridden town in China. Kitty quickly discovers Townsend’s supposed love for her is a sham, she has no real choice, and reluctantly goes with Walter. The harsh realities of the cholera-stricken town, the heroic lives of some nuns and the sacrificial dedication of her husband, force her to confront the shallowness of her life. Stripped of former comforts and illusions she begins a journey towards self-awareness. Among the nuns ahe sees a love that is far deeper than fevered emotion and becomes aware of her own emptiness and need for redemption. She begins a search for a different life, a life of meaning and purpose.
Characters:
Kitty is the central character and almost everything is seen through her eyes. We know her thoughts, opinions and judgements and in the first section of the book Maugham hammers home her frivolity, her prejudices and her selfish nature. Her life is empty of meaning, in sharp contrast to that of her husband, Walter.
Walter is something of an enigma. Our judgement of him is coloured by Kitty’s assessment. To her he is too shy, too introspective and lacking in charm; she is bored by him and does not love him. We know he is intelligent and very much in love with Kitty and that he tries to make her happy, but following her affair he seems cold, cruel and vengeful. When Kitty first visits the convent, we see a different Walter. Kitty learns how thoughtful and tender he is, how he sooths crying babies. The nuns revere him and the Mother Superior calls him a saint. Kitty admits to herself he has remarkable qualities, even a strange though unattractive greatness.
Charles Townsend in contrast was “a common fellow and second-rate”. He had treated Kitty like a mere plaything; his words of devotion had meant nothing and yet despite all this he was still lodged firmly in her heart. Towards the end of the novel, Kitty discovers to her shame the new life she feels is before her is easily swept aside by a desire she thought was dead.
Waddington plays an important part in Kitty’s path to redemption. He is a shrewd observer of human nature - knowledgeable, cynical and unconventional. He is a bridge between the Chinese and Colonial worlds. Through her conversations with him, Kitty begins to see people and the world differently. She asks him about Taoism and after Waddington has explained she says, “Does it mean anything?” Waddington replies, “Sometimes, when I've had half a dozen whiskies and look at the stars, I think perhaps it does.”
The Mother Superior also has a profound effect on Kitty. While Waddington represents a more detached, Eastern-style acceptance of life, the Mother Superior impresses Kitty by following a selfless, Christian ideal of duty, service, and sacrifice. Kitty cares for the children alongside the nuns in the convent but despite their kindness she “felt shut out, …. from some mysterious garden of the spirit, after which with all her soul she hankered. She felt on a sudden alone, as she had never felt alone before.”
The Painted Veil Lifted
The painted veil of the poem represents the shallow outward appearance of life, “unreal shapes” and “colours idly spread” that just “mimic all we would believe”. The veil needs to be lifted to see the reality that lies behind.
Throughout the novel, Maugham lifts the veil from Kitty’s eyes.
He shows how her upbringing moulded her character to be self-centred, shallow, and set the illusions of her life in place. Her affair with Townsend and his betrayal shows him to be as self-centred and shallow as she is. This shock begins the lifting of the veil.
In Mei-tan-fu, Kitty is exposed to new realities: being surrounded by death brings a realisation of her own mortality; Waddington with his insights and common sense, counters her prejudices and superficiality; the nuns have given up everything that Kitty held dear yet their lives have meaning and purpose; as she cares for the orphans she finds within herself new depths of love, and she comes to realise the only way to heal her relationship with Walter is through forgiveness.
Walter’s Death
Kitty believes that Walter is trapped in resentment and bitterness by her infidelity. It is a burden weighing him down and the only release is for him to forgive her, not for her sake but for his.
As he lies dying, Kitty says to him, “‘Walter. I beseech you to forgive me. I'm so desperately sorry for the wrong I did you. I so bitterly regret it’. He said nothing. He did not seem to hear. She was obliged to insist. It seemed to her strangely that his soul was a fluttering moth, and its wings were heavy with hatred……she saw two tears run slowly down his wasted cheeks. ‘Oh, my precious my dear, if you ever loved me. I know you love me, and I was hateful. I beg you to forgive me. I've no chance now to show my repentance. Have mercy on me. I beseech you to forgive me’. …. She saw that he tried to speak. She leaned over him so she might hear, but he spoke quite clearly.
‘The dog it was that died’”
This is the last line is from a poem by Oliver Goldsmith in which a supposedly saintly man is bitten by a mad dog. The man was outwardly virtuous but had a hidden poisonous nature. The man was more poisonous than the dog.
Walter is confessing he was wrong to think himself more righteous or morally superior to Kitty. His early desire for her death through cholera, his continuing coldness and obsession with punishing her were more poisonous than her adultery.
How to Live
Kitty believes that Walter is trapped in resentment and bitterness by her infidelity. It is a burden weighing him down and the only release is for him to forgive her, not for her sake but for his.
As he lies dying, Kitty says to him, “‘Walter. I beseech you to forgive me. I'm so desperately sorry for the wrong I did you. I so bitterly regret it’. He said nothing. He did not seem to hear. She was obliged to insist. It seemed to her strangely that his soul was a fluttering moth, and its wings were heavy with hatred……she saw two tears run slowly down his wasted cheeks. ‘Oh, my precious my dear, if you ever loved me. I know you love me, and I was hateful. I beg you to forgive me. I've no chance now to show my repentance. Have mercy on me. I beseech you to forgive me’. …. She saw that he tried to speak. She leaned over him so she might hear, but he spoke quite clearly.
‘The dog it was that died’”
This is the last line is from a poem by Oliver Goldsmith in which a supposedly saintly man is bitten by a mad dog. The man was outwardly virtuous but had a hidden poisonous nature. The man was more poisonous than the dog.
Walter is confessing he was wrong to think himself more righteous or morally superior to Kitty. His early desire for her death through cholera, his continuing coldness and obsession with punishing her were more poisonous than her adultery.
How to Live
Waddington's wisdom:
Kitty says to Waddington,
Kitty says to Waddington,
“I'm looking for something and I don't quite know what it is, but I know that it's very important for me to know it and if I did it would make all the difference. Perhaps the nuns know it. When I'm with them, I feel they hold a secret which they will not share with me. I don't know why came into my head that if I saw this Manchu woman, I should have an inkling of what I'm looking for. Perhaps she would tell me if she could.
What makes you think she knows it?
Kitty gave him a sidelong glance but did not answer. Instead, she asked him a question.
Do you know it?
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
Tao. Some of us look for the way in opium, some in God. Some others in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same way. And it leads nowhither.”
The Mother Superior has different wisdom to impart
“One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.”
"Remember, that it is nothing to do your duty, that is demanded of you, and no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty. The only thing that counts is the love of duty. When love and duty are one, then grace is in you, and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding."
A Beautiful Life.
What makes you think she knows it?
Kitty gave him a sidelong glance but did not answer. Instead, she asked him a question.
Do you know it?
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
Tao. Some of us look for the way in opium, some in God. Some others in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same way. And it leads nowhither.”
The Mother Superior has different wisdom to impart
“One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.”
"Remember, that it is nothing to do your duty, that is demanded of you, and no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty. The only thing that counts is the love of duty. When love and duty are one, then grace is in you, and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding."
A Beautiful Life.
Kitty is not convinced by the Mother Superior, she says to Waddington, “If the nuns have sacrificed their lives for the life to come and there is no life to come, they've been cheated.” Waddington replies, “I wonder. I wonder if it matters that what they aimed at is an illusion. Their lives are in themselves beautiful. The beautiful life that is the perfect work of art.”
No Clue
No Clue
On the journey back to Hong Kong. Kitty observes the passing landscape and thinks back to her time in the city. She imagines the houses, the streets and convent as if they are the backdrop to a play with all the people of the city playing their varied parts. But what did it all mean? It was important to know and yet she had no clue, no clue.
Peace
Peace
By the end of the novel Kitty has found her answer. She remembers a day on the journey out to the city.
“One morning they set out in their chairs while it was still dark, and as the day broke, she divined rather than saw a scene of such breathtaking loveliness that for a brief period the anguish of her heart was assuaged. It reduced to insignificance all human tribulation. The sun rose, dispelling the mist, and she saw, winding onward as far as the eye could reach, among the rice fields, across a little river and through undulating country, the path they were to follow. Perhaps her faults and follies, the unhappiness she had suffered were not entirely vain. If she could follow the path that now she dimly discerned before her. Not the path that kind, funny old Waddington had spoken of that lead nowhither, but the path those dear nuns at the convent followed so humbly, the path that led to peace.
Conclusion
The Painted Veil explores themes of disillusionment, the fragility of human relationships, and the transformative power of suffering. Kitty’s journey from superficiality to introspection, set against the backdrop of class, colonialism, disease and danger, is a meditation on the age-old question - what gives a human life meaning and purpose?
“One morning they set out in their chairs while it was still dark, and as the day broke, she divined rather than saw a scene of such breathtaking loveliness that for a brief period the anguish of her heart was assuaged. It reduced to insignificance all human tribulation. The sun rose, dispelling the mist, and she saw, winding onward as far as the eye could reach, among the rice fields, across a little river and through undulating country, the path they were to follow. Perhaps her faults and follies, the unhappiness she had suffered were not entirely vain. If she could follow the path that now she dimly discerned before her. Not the path that kind, funny old Waddington had spoken of that lead nowhither, but the path those dear nuns at the convent followed so humbly, the path that led to peace.
Conclusion
The Painted Veil explores themes of disillusionment, the fragility of human relationships, and the transformative power of suffering. Kitty’s journey from superficiality to introspection, set against the backdrop of class, colonialism, disease and danger, is a meditation on the age-old question - what gives a human life meaning and purpose?
Links
Painted Veil poem and Goldsmith's Elegy
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