The Painted Veil
人物
Kitty Fane
A beautiful high-society woman from London. Kitty values social appearance and artifice, and was trained by her mother to make a brilliant marriage. When no acceptable suitor was forthcoming, she deigned to marry Water Fane, an introverted scientist. Disgusted with this marriage, Kitty has an affair with the handsome Charles Townsend. When Walter discovers this, he forces Kitty to accompany him to a cholera epidemic in central China.
Walter Fane
The government bacteriologist in the British colony of Hong Kong. Walter is a reserved and shy man, but he loves Kitty deeply despite their obvious incompatibility. He is so hurt when he discovers her infidelities that he willingly goes to work in the midst of a cholera epidemic in southern China.
Charles Townsend
The Assistant Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong. He is a man in his forties, and is quite vain and shallow. He has an affair with Kitty Fane, and reacts indifferently when her husband finds out.
Waddington
Deputy Commissioner of Customs in Mei-tan-fu. He is a short rather ugly man, but he is funny, insightful, and generally good company. He lives with a Manchu woman who loves him passionately. He enjoys drinking whiskey.
Mother Superior
Head of the convent in Mei-tan-fu. She was originally a noblewoman, and still exercises a great deal of command. She is remarkable for her emotional depth, wisdom, and peace.
主题 Themes
Love and Desire
The nature of love is one of the primary themes of the novel. At the beginning, Kitty does not love her husband Walter, but is instead enamored with the dashing politician Charles Townsend. When Charles heartlessly abandons her, she accepts Walter's demand to follow him into the cholera epidemic in Mainland China.
Kitty never comes to love her husband Walter, but she does find admirable qualities in him and wishes to be his friend. She also eventually overcomes her love for Charles, which was vain and oppressed her. In The Painted Veil, love is not always a good thing; Kitty's love for Charles is said to have degraded her (pg. 148). It is Kitty's love for her unborn child that pushes her to become a better person.
Family Dysfunction
The Painted Veil contains a number of dysfunctional families. Kitty and Walter are poorly matched and hate each other; Mrs. Garstin relentlessly prods Mr. Garstin to greater achievements in his career and his daughters view him only as a source of income; and Charles is repeatedly unfaithful to his wife Dorothy.
The novel suggests that problems within the family will carry over to other generations. Kitty is deeply affected by her mother's cold treatment of her father, and eventually finds her final redemption in creating a relationship with him, thus undoing all of the unhealthy messages she was taught as a child.
Self-realization
At the beginning of the novel, Kitty Fane was a shallow society woman whose main concerns were her standing in society and her adulterous relationship with the shallow Charles Townsend. By the end of the novel, she has developed a greater sense of compassion and prioritizes her search for peace over social concerns. Kitty’s growth as a character is made possible both by her difficult circumstances (the time she spent in the cholera-ridden city of Mei-tan-fu, the loss of her mother and husband, and her pregnancy) and by the time she spends with the nuns, who spend their lives in work and prayer. Kitty realizes how short life is, and she decides to treat both herself and others in a more fair fashion.
The Importance of Work
Kitty’s growth as a character is fueled by her work at the convent, where she takes care of the older children. She volunteers there six days per week, and she does not take time off for illness, pregnancy, or mourning. Rather than exhausting her, this work refreshes her spirit and allows her a source of self-affirmation that does not rely on other’s opinions of her. At the end of the novel, she vows to raise her daughter in the same way, teaching her to work and make her own way in the world rather than depending on a man to do it all for her. This suggests that work for women is an important way of making the world a more pleasant place for both sexes.
意象 imagery
Kitty the Lioness
When Walter confronts her about coming to Mei-tan-fu and explains his knowledge of her affair, criticizing her character viciously, Kitty responds in a fury. "Wounded vanity can make a woman more vindictive than a lioness robbed of her cubs" (pg. 45). Kitty has protected her pride the way that a lioness protects her cubs, and Walter's harsh words make her react as ferociously as this dangerous predator.
Dog's Eyes
When Walter proposes to Kitty, he seems so subdued and awkward that Kitty cannot help but comparing his eyes to a dog's. "They had a tenderness which she had never seen in them before, but there was something beseeching in them, like a dog's that has been whipped, which slightly exasperated her" (pg. 19).
Like a dog, Walter is willing to grovel. Drawing this simile is also not an auspicious reaction on Kitty's part if the two of them are to be married.
The Soul Moth
As Walter lies dying in the middle of the night, Kitty visits him one last time to apologize for everything she has put him through. As he weakly regards her, "It seemed to her strangely that his soul was a fluttering moth and its wings were heavily with hatred" (pg. 134).
Walter's soul is a weak as the small insect, but it is still burdened by the hatred he feels towards Kitty for her betrayal. She does her best to lighten its load before he dies.
The dog it was that died
The title of the play comes from Oliver Goldsmith's poem An Elegy on the death of a mad dog which ends:
But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.
In some ways Purvis may be seen as the mad dog of the poem.
In this poem, a dog bites a well-respected society man, and everyone fears that the man will die. To the surprise of the town, it is actually the dog who dies. Alluding to this poem expresses Walter's shock that he will be the one to die; it may also imply that Kitty is not as upstanding as everyone thinks
一个人好心收养一条狗,结果人狗反目,狗发咬伤了人,最后死的却是狗。Walter暗指自Walter暗指自己是狗,kitty是活下来的人。想要表达的意思是Kitty找到了自我,而walt却在仇恨中丧生
The Butterflies of Ideas
When Kitty sleeps with Charles after her return to Hong Kong, she is disgusted with her moral slippage. "New ideas flitted about her heart like little yellow butterflies in the sunshine, and she had hoped to be so much better in the future" (pg. 160).
Like butterflies, Kitty's new thoughts and ways of being are delicate, and she is easily tempted back into her old habits. However, these new thoughts are attractive and compelling; the simile evokes beauty and joy
The Tao (Motif)
Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.
Waddington to Kitty, pg. 121
After meeting Waddington's paramour, the Manchu lady, Kitty says that she is looking for something and doesn't quite know what it is. Waddington asks why Kitty thinks the Manchu lady would know it, and Kitty asks Waddington if he knows it. Waddington mentions the Tao, a central concept in the Taoist religion; it points to the natural flow of the universe, which is sometimes paradoxical
Waddington first suggests the existence of the Tao to Kitty, characterizing it as the way that leads nowhither. After Walter's death, he explains the Tao further - it is the way that is no way, it is everywhere and nowhere. It was only become comprehensible when one has given up dualities. Later, on her way back to Hong Kong, Kitty finds herself on her own way or Tao of equanimity, following the way through southern China and meditating on both her losses and her peace.
The Veil (Allegory)
Throughout the novel, Kitty makes references to a veil that seems to cover ordinary life; she seeks a way beyond this veil so that she can experience life as it was truly meant to be lived, in the peaceful and productive way that the nuns live it.
The veil is an allegory for the superficial mundane world, which we must move past if we are to achieve true growth.
Major Conflict
The primary conflicts are struggles with society and struggles with oneself. Kitty struggles against restrictive social norms that entrap her in marriage to Walter Fane, a man she dislikes; she also struggles to become a more compassionate and thoughtful person.
Allusions
The novel makes an allusion to Oliver Goldsmith's "Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog." Walter's last words are, "The dog it was that died," which is the last line from the
(原诗韵式为ABABAB CDCD DCDC
Sonnet: ‘Lift Not The Painted Veil’
商籁体：“别撩开这画布”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,—behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it—he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
别揭开这画帷
别揭开这画帷：呵，人们就管这
叫作生活，虽然它画的没有真像；
它只是以随便涂抹的彩色
仿制我们意愿的事物—而希望
和恐惧，双生的宿命，在后面藏躲，
给幽深的穴中不断编织着幻象。
曾有一个人，我知道，把它揭开过—
他想找到什么寄托他的爱情，
但却找不到。而世间也没有任何
真实的物象，能略略使他心动。
于是他漂泊在冷漠的人群中，
成为暗影中的光，是一点明斑
落上阴郁的景色，也是个精灵
追求真理，却像“传道者”一样兴叹。
查良铮译
句子
"The morning drew on and the sun touched the mist so that it shone whitely like the ghost of snow on a dying star. Though on the river was light so that you could discern palely the lines of the corded junks and the thick forest of their masts, in front it was a shining wall the eye could not pierce" (pg. 66)
Early on in her time at Mei-tan-fu, Kitty awakes from a bad dream and gazes out her window just as dawn breaks. The appearance of the dawn light on the boasts of the river is vividly conveyed through metaphor. The mist "shown whitely like the ghost of snow on a dying star," evoking bright lights but also suggesting a deep sadness or foreboding, suitable for a plague-ridden city viewed by a heartbroken woman.
"The face was long, with a large mouth and large, even teeth; the nose, though not small, was delicate and sensitive; but it was the eyes, under their thin black brows, which gave her face its intense and tragic character. They were very large, black, and though not exactly cold, by their calm steadiness strangely compelling. Your first thought when you looked at the Mother Superior was that as a girl she must have been beautiful, but in a moment you realized that this was a woman whose beauty, depending on character, had grown with advancing years" (pg. 81)
Kitty is struck by her first encounter with the Mother Superior. This paragraph describes both the appearance and personality of the Mother Superior: she is a commanding woman of great wisdom and emotional depth.
"They passed up and down little hills laid out with trim rice-fields and farm-houses nestling cozily in a grove of bamboos; they passed through ragged villages and populous cities walled like the cities in a missal" (pg. 146)
During her journey back to Hong Kong, Kitty eagerly observes the beauty of southern China. This example of imagery makes extensive use of contrary images - cities contrasted to hills, rice fields to bamboos, and farmhouses to hills.
Freedom! That was the thought that sung in her heart so that even though the future was so dim, it was iridescent like the mist over the river where the morning sun fell upon it. Freedom! Not only freedom from a bond that irked, and a companionship which depressed her; freedom, not only from the death which had threatened, but freedom from the love that had degraded her; freedom from all spiritual ties, and with freedom, courage, and a valiant unconcern for whatever was to come. Pg. 148
During Kitty's journey from Mei-tan-fu back to Hong Kong, she gazes at the beauty scenery and ponders her life. Though her circumstances are dire (she is pregnant, her husband is dead, and her living situation is not clear) she cannot help feeling exultant.
She has found freedom from a variety of things which had previously oppressed her, including her unhappy marriage with Walter, her love for Charles, the threat of cholera, and her own selfishness. Kitty is about to embark on a new chapter of her life - but not without some challenges.
You know, my dear child, that one cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.——Mother Superior to Kitty, pg. 97
The Mother Superior says this to Kitty shortly after she volunteers her services in the convent. The Mother Superior accepts her help, but tempers them with these words of wisdom.
Kitty has been trained from birth to seek affirmation of her worth in the eyes of other people and to focus on her appearance rather than her own personality and accomplishments. Kitty has been seeking fulfillment everywhere else - including in the arms of a married man - but now she begins to realize that she has to seek it in her own soul.
Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.。——Waddington to Kitty, pg. 121
After meeting Waddington's paramour, the Manchu lady, Kitty says that she is looking for something and doesn't quite know what it is. Waddington asks why Kitty thinks the Manchu lady would know it, and Kitty asks Waddington if he knows it. Waddington mentions the Tao, a central concept in the Taoist religion; it points to the natural flow of the universe, which is sometimes paradoxical