The Painted Veil

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Once in Hong Kong she meets Townsend, a married colonial official, and their torrid love affair commences. However, in this second issue (Fig 2), Maugham cleverly adapted these location names and henceforth referred to them as ‘Tching-Yen’, ‘Pleasant Valley’, ‘The Mount’ and ‘Lushan’ respectively. All references to ‘Canton’ (Guangzhou) have also been removed due to its proximity to Hong Kong. Even though Maugham had changed the names to avoid allegations, he later admitted in 1934 that he was indeed inspired by the events witnessed during his voyage to China, which directly led to the creation of this book and raises the question of whether this kind of censorship was necessary at all. Walter is silent and pale for several days, and then gives Kitty an ultimatum. She will accompany him on his expedition to fight a cholera epidemic in Mei-tan-fu, a city in southern China, or he will bring her to court for her infidelity. Kitty is horrified, and certain that the cholera epidemic will mean her death. Walter gives her another out: if Charles agrees to marry her, he will allow her to divorce him and she can stay in Hong Kong. Kitty, delighted that she will finally get the chance to be with her beloved Charles, immediately confronts her lover with this proposal. Charles refuses to divorce his wife Dorothy, and Kitty, heartbroken, agrees to go with Walter to Mei-tan-fu. The novel was first published in serialised form in five issues of Cosmopolitan (November 1924 – March 1925). Beginning in May 1925, it was serialised in the United Kingdom in eight parts in Nash's Magazine.

Redemption: Thankfully, both Kitty and Walter were able to let go of their past mistakes. Walter truly forgave Kitty. Even without knowing whether he was the biological father of Kitty’s baby or not, Walter agreed to raise the child together. That’s true love. On the other hand, Kitty also took care of Walter until he passed away. She didn’t have to, but Kitty did it because she loved her man. Kitty accepts his proposal impulsively. She despises his fawning attentions. She has therefore never invested any emotion or even thought into the relationship. He takes her to Hong Kong where he works as a bacteriologist. There she meets Charlie Townsend, who intuitively senses the vulnerability in their relationship. He is charming, fit, and knows the right string of words to whisper in a silly, unhappy girl’s ear. Kitty is a fool, and she can’t for the life of her understand why Walter can’t see it.I agree whole-heartedly with other reviewers -- the movie was better! I saw the movie first and loved it. It is a brilliant and beautiful love story -- and who can resist Edward Norton's stoic, yet smoldering interpretation of Walter.

Ability? What nonsense! He's a very stupid man. He gives you the impression that he dashes off his work and gets it through from sheer brilliancy. Nothing of the kind. He's as industrious as a Eurasian clerk."Wonderful writing and a good read from Maugham. I had not read him lately so I forgot how good a writer he is. Kitty has long known that her marriage with Walter was a mistake. She glances at the pictures of her mother and father in the living room; he a little wizened man with tired eyes, and she a thin, angular, harsh woman. Kitty is not particularly close to either of them. You can appreciate the movie better once you read the book and get to know the characters as they were originally intended. The movie does a good job of interpreting those characters honestly and uses dialogue verbatim from the book. But, in the movie, Walter and Kitty are much more likeable -- probably because they find (SPOILER ALERT)redemption in their love for one another, and Kitty is able to resist Charlie's later advances.

The story should be a banality, really. Woman marries unsuited man to appease an unreasonably ambitiousand cold mother, then falls head over heals in love with the first good-for-nothing she comes across. The marriage is brutally broken and the story ends on vaguely defiant note. Percy Bysshe Shelley Quotes: “ Poetrylifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” The first time she was alone with Waddington she brought the conversation around to Charlie. Waddington had spoken of him on the evening of their arrival. She pretended that he was no more than an acquaintance of her husband. I never expected you to love me, I didn’t see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable….What most husbands expected as a right, I was prepared to receive as a favour.”

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Still on the verandah, Kitty wonders if it was Walter who turned the knobs that afternoon. When she goes into the living room, she notices a book with a little note on it; a friend had sent it with Mr. Fane, who said he was swinging by the house that afternoon. In a panic, Kitty interrogates the serving boy, who says that Walter Fane did indeed swing by the house after the midday meal.