The Painted Veil

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I can't say that there is one "moral of the story" that really stands out to me with the book. There were many. This book was a beautiful, albeit heartbreaking, account of the human experience. Description of places occasionally took my breath away. Description of clothes, facial appearances and manners are astute. Superb dialogs. What I am saying is that the writing, the language used, is exceptionally good! Sometimes lyrical, most often precise. The Painted Veil meaning: At a wedding, the veil is white, which represents the innocence and purity of the wearer. As the title of the novel suggests, the veil is painted, which implies that the wearer is not innocent any more. The novel takes a dig at how our society and the people that live in it are tainted. ADULTERY, REDEMPTION AND CHOLERA DISEASE IN CHINA. Lo stesso Walter mi pare abbia un percorso che lo rende molto più interessante di quello che lo stereotipo del medico tutto dedito al lavoro, freddo imperscrutabile insensibile: per quanto ossessionato dal decoro, quando scopre la storia tra sua moglie e Townsend è disposto a divorziare se l’amante è pronto a fare altrettanto per poi sposarsi con Kitty – in alternativa le impone di seguirlo nell’interno del paese, da Hong Kong a Mei-Tan-Fu, a combattere un’epidemia di colera. Non un posto per una signora, ma l’occasione di fare una grande esperienza umana.

Women at this time (1920’s) had to marry. They needed someone to support them. Kitty was definitely a product of her time. Maugham does seem to have a jaundiced view of marriage. There is betrayal; there is some redemption. Kitty is forced to reevaluate herself and her life. For me, there is so much in this book that is ripe for discussion. Kitty Fane is a spoiled brat who thinks nothing more than herself. One day she meets Walter Fane who is immediately taken with her and asks for her hand in marriage. Kitty agrees, not because she loves him, but for selfish reasons and saving face. They move from Britain to Hong Kong, where he's a bacteriologist. Kitty is more interested in parties and socializing, and it's here where she has an affair. The affair is with an absolute scoundrel who also thinks nothing more than himself. But Kitty is such a child and just wants to be loved by him. Walter discovers the affair and almost forces her to go with him to the heart of a cholera epidemic in China. Kitty has no love for her husband, but due to shame, and no where else to go, she follows Walter. Here is where Kitty really begins to grow up. Walter now loathes Kitty but he is starting to see her in another light. But he is so driven in helping the people affected with cholera and trying to save those who live there. I'll not say more to ruin the story. When Walter confronted her, he gave her an ultimatum. Either to go with him to Meitan-fu, a cholera region where an epidemic broke out, the worst one in fifty years, or he files for a divorce. The condition was that Charles Townsend, her lover should confirm in writing that he would divorce his wife and marry Kitty, with Charles's wife confirming in writing that she will divorce Charles. If Walter's conditions were not met, Kitty would have to accompany him on his journey to avoid a scandal. Walter: 'I’m afraid you’ve thought me a bigger fool than I am.’ She did not quite know what to say. She was undecided whether indignantly to assert her innocence or to break out into angry reproaches. He seemed to read her thoughts... Likewise, it is immediately evident that Kitty does not return the sentiment. Kitty is beautiful, vain and shallower than a kiddie pool. While Walter married for love, she makes not ifs, ands, or buts about the fact that she did not. It is clear that she married Walter solely so that she would not be one-upped by her younger sister's upcoming nuptials. In fact, Kitty seems to loathe Walter...at least, initially.

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I know this is harsh, but I've heard such good things about The Painted Veil, and I felt like it didn't deliver. The book might be a classic, but the film seems highly overrated to me. Certo, si può interpretare la cosa come forma di vendetta diretta a fare di Kitty una nuova Pia de’ Tolomei. Ma io preferisco la prima ipotesi. Maugham offers musings on religion without sounding excessively preachy, and offers a considered view on what makes life worth living. It is a joy to read and to watch as Kitty comes of age, learning from the people she encounters and ultimately sees past the veil of her life to some underlying truth. There are also comments here on the nature of westerners "doing good" in cultures considered lesser. I have to say that Walter had a special place in my heart. I love stories with darker themes and am drawn to anti-heroes. There was something so sinister and calculating about Walter that really drew me to him. Kitty was right to be afraid of her husband, even as she knew that he loved her. Walter was kind of a scary guy.

Kitty, a woman used to being at the height of society, was frustrated to realize that she had little social importance as the wife of the government bacteriologist. Her husband Walter is indifferent to his social position, but recalls a time when he awkwardly tried to reassure his wife when he saw how irritated she was about this.

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He's very fond of her. I will give him that credit. I think that is the most decent thing about him." Of course it was Walter, Kitty’s husband. In the aftermath of her affair, Kitty is forced to choose between divorcing Walter or following him into the midst of a cholera epidemic. He believes he can be helpful as a bacteriologist and physician, but he also wants to punish both Kitty and himself. Though Kitty’s character shows flashes of modern feminism, her initial impressions of Chinese people are racist. She improves, but her initial commentary dates the book. She and Walter live in Mei-tan-fu while he studies the disease and she volunteers at a nearby convent.

I really don’t want to say too much of the plot- it is a short book after all and I think it is best discovered fresh. Plot summary: ABritish medical doctor fightsacholera epidemic inasmall Chinese village, while being trapped at home inaloveless marriage to an unfaithful wife. Even still, it is the moment I became less forgiving of her character and the direction the book was taking. I would have liked her to have still more sympathy and love for her family, became more transparent with Waddington and, finally, resist Charlie -- even one last time. She didn't change as much as I had hoped.

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Set in England, Hong Kong and China in the 1920s, Maugham uses a third-person-limited point of view (through Kitty’s eyes) in this story of the beautiful, but love-starved Kitty Fane, the focal character. L’intera trama prende spunto da un altro celebre riferimento letterario: da quella Pia de’ Tolomei che Dante incontra nel Purgatorio. Questi i versi del poeta fiorentino: It’s worth mentioning that the book and the movie have different endings. If you’re a fan of the movie, you might be surprised or even disappointed, but what works well in a book doesn’t always translate to film. So much of the book’s character development is felt but left unsaid. In a movie, there’s a limit on how long the lead actors can stare into space or at each other without using cheesy voiceovers. The changes made for the screen adaptation make sense, even if the book feels a little colder by comparison.

Ersilia mi disse che Pia era una gentildonna senese; il marito, sospettandola di adulterio e non osando metterla a morte per timore dei familiari, la portò in un suo castello in Maremma nella speranza che i mefitici vapori del luogo provvedessero alla bisogna; ma poiché ella tardava a morire si spazientì e la fece gettare dalla finestra. That was as far as the plot was based on the fith canto of the Inferno. The title was derived from an unfinished sonnet of Shelley: Lift not the painted veil which those who live call Life So, it was no big surprise that Kitty spent her days in the arms of the charming, and also married, Charles Townsend, while Walter was busy at work. No doubt, the dumb twit was just the most recent in what was bound to be a long line of extramarital conquests for Charles. Stupid Kitty believed that he was as in love with her as she was with him. Poor fool.Kitty was vain, loved to laugh and play, and found her new husband boring and sometimes disgusting. It wasn't long before she started an affair, fell head over heels in love and believed that she has found the real meaning of love. The Charlies of this world are grating on my nerves, but I have to admit Somerset Maugham nailed him. Vain, good-looking, brutally selfish and shallow, they come, they see, they conquer, they leave.