In 'The Painted Veil' Somerset Maugham not only focused on the inherent clashes of early Anglo-Sino relations but those of its main protagonists Kitty and Walter. The difficulties in Kitty's relationship with Walter however are clearly represented in a dualistic bad guy/good guy fashion. Walter is the good doctor that stations himself in China to save all the sick Chinese citizens from typhoid. Kitty however is a selfish woman who married Walter, a man she does not love, in order to be married off before her younger sister did. She not only cheats on Walter who is completely devoted and in love with her but is shown to be spiritually dead inside as well.
But Maugham had a very redeeming message- if one is able to learn to love others they will finally be able to love themselves.
Novel
Kitty is constantly referring to her 'freedom' throughout the novel. At the beginning it is a freedom that allows her to do what she wants but inevitably this turns into a freedom from the selfish identity that has gripped her her whole life:
""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 the love that had degraded her; freedom from all spiritual ties, the freedom of a disembodied spirit; and with freedom, courage and a valiant unconcern for whatever was to come"
She learnt this lesson not after Walter's death but after sleeping with the man who she cheated with Walter originally, Charles Townsend, once again after becoming a widow. In the novel Maugham thus allows for that final mistake from Kitty in order for her to understand that she needs to become what Walter once thought she was- a proud and intelligent woman.
Film
In the film however Kitty's metamorphosis comes about through Walter's death. In fact, in the film she meets with Charles Townsend one more time and rejects him. This inevitably means that Kitty's metamorphosis into the good and proud woman she becomes comes about prematurely and the viewer is left with a feeling that the whole thing was wrapped up to quickly.
People, real people, cannot change so dramatically in such a short space of time. Somerset Maugham was an incredible writer because he depicted 'real people' and real human character- both the good and bad. By not allowing Kitty her final mistake the film drops the viewer at the end of the novel without the last obstacle that the protagonist had to overcome in the original story line- this is the real shame of the film, as beautifully crafted as it is with amazing acting work from Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.
