The Painted Veil (1925) is the 11th novel by British novelist and playwright William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965). He obtained the title from the opening lines of an untitled sonnet by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, posthumously published in 1824: “Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life” (Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Lift Not the Painted Veil.” 1824. Reprint. The Reader, 6 Feb. 2017. Accessed 17 Jul. 2022). The novel originally appeared as a serialized story in five issues of Cosmopolitan magazine from November 1924-March 1925. Since then, the novel has continued to interest readers of new generations and has been adapted into two movies, the first starring Greta Garbo in 1934 and the second with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton in 2006.

The novel is set in 1920s Hong Kong, then a colony of the former British Empire, and has some outdated aspects—namely, the white colonists’ often racist views of China and Chinese people. However, it attracts readers for its complex female protagonist, Kitty Fane, and its study of human relationships. One reviewer writes, “Maugham was superb at illuminating all the ways that love could go wrong” and recommends the novel for those who are unhappily married or simply want to engage with a text that portrays relationships in all their complexity (Crispin, Jessa. “Rereading: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham review—unhappily married? Read this book.” The Times, 9 May 2022. Accessed 17 Jul. 2022).

While The Painted Veil continues to be a popular and important text, in the first two decades of the 21st century, Maugham himself has undergoing a reevaluation. Tania Kindersley writes that while Maugham was “blisteringly successful in his day,” in the second half of the 20th century he was viewed as “fusty and antiquated […] a creaking reminder of colonial days—all those stories of the Orient, the smart ladies, the stiff upper lip” (Kindersley, Tania. “Maugham’s the word: Why Somerset is set for a comeback.” The Guardian, 8 May 2007. Accessed 17 Jul. 2022). Thus, as the British Empire waned, Maugham’s book became associated with a past and characteristics that British people wanted to forget. However, Kindersley argues that Maugham should also be seen as “daring and ahead of his time” in his frank portrayal of the human mind and his treatment of taboo subjects such as sexuality.

This study guide uses the Vintage e-book edition.

Plot Summary

The Painted Veil is set in the 1920s in British colonial Hong Kong and begins with Kitty Fane’s discovery that her husband, Walter, knows about her affair with Assistant Colonial Secretary Charles Townsend. Kitty never loved Walter and only married him because she had not received any better offers by the age of 25 and stood to be humiliated by her 18-year-old sister’s engagement to a baronet. Seeing no other option for advancement in her life, Kitty decided to marry Walter Fane, a bacteriologist, and emigrate with him to Hong Kong. She never grew to love him and found life in Hong Kong unpleasant. However, when she met Charles Townsend, they fell in love and embarked on an affair.

Now the adulterous couple is discovered because Kitty arranged for their assignation to occur in her bedroom rather than the backroom of a curio shop. Walter is furious at Kitty’s betrayal and presents her with an ultimatum: Either Townsend must divorce his wife (Dorothy) and marry Kitty, or Kitty must come with Walter to Meitan-fu, where there is a cholera epidemic. Kitty, who feels that Walter has given her a death sentence, rushes to her lover in the hope that he will rescue her. Townsend, who wishes to ascend to the top position of colonial governor, has no intention of divorcing his wife. Kitty realizes that Walter has set her up to witness Townsend’s cowardice and insincerity.

A devastated Kitty goes to Meitan-Fu. At first she is deeply distressed, but guided by a man named Waddington and a group of French nuns, she begins to discover a spiritual dimension in her life. At the nuns’ convent, she gains new confidence helping to take care of orphans and finds she is free from her attachment to Townsend. However, when she discovers that she is pregnant with a child that is likely his, she realizes that everything must change. Walter is devastated by the news and throws himself into his work at the expense of his own health. In the middle of the night, Waddington comes to tell Kitty that Walter is dying of cholera. Kitty feels that Walter died of a broken heart and feels remorseful that she never loved him.

Although Kitty would like to stay at the convent, the mother superior insists that she put her child first and sends her on a journey to Hong Kong and England. Kitty is stunned that Townsend’s wife, Dorothy, greets her in Hong Kong and insists that she stay at their home. At first, Kitty enjoys Dorothy’s company and finds Townsend repugnant and insincere. However, he catches her in a moment of weakness, and she allows herself to be seduced by him.

Afterwards, Kitty is disgusted with herself and secures an express trip back to England. She decides that despite this error in judgement, her experiences in Meitan-fu have fundamentally changed her. Back in England, she imagines that the child in her womb is a girl and tells her father, who is now a widower, that she will raise her daughter to be independent. Knowing the injustices that her mother perpetrated on her father, Kitty seeks to make amends by accompanying him to the Bahamas, where he has ascended to be the post of chief justice. There, they hope to make a new life, free from the disappointments of the past.