Transcript The Painted Veil: A Structural Analysis

The Painted Veil:
A Structural Analysis
ASL ~ Literature in English
Foreshadowing
Kitty’s first meeting with Charles
Townsend
 Watching a play at a Chinese theater
 Townsend’s translation of the storyline:

– About a young girl weeping
– For her being sold into a life of slavery and
taken away to a foreign land
– For her being condemned to this life in which
she will never find happiness, never be loved
or love in return
Foreshadowing
A
striking description of the life that
Kitty will soon know:
– Her and Townsend’s affair begins shortly
after watching this play
– Soon taken away by her husband,
Walter, to a very foreign land where she
feels enslaved, alone, unloved and
unable to love
– As a punishment of her infidelity
Explicit Plot
 Kitty
and Walter get married, but she
has an affair with Charles Townsend.
 Walter takes revenge by forcing her
to accompany him to a diseaseridden Chinese village where she will
feel miserable.
 However, misery awakens
enlightenment, reconciliation and
redemption.
Implicit Plot
 The
motive behind Kitty’s affair:
– Marrying Walter for the wrong reasons
– Kitty never loved Walter, respected him
or had any interest in him
– Getting married to spite her mother
– Kitty’s character: selfish, impulsive and
rebellious
– Her affair with Townsend: to rebel
against her husband whom she didn’t
love
Implicit Plot

Walter’s motive for avenging Kitty’s affair:
– by taking her to a cholera-infested village
– Instead of bursting into the bedroom when he
knew his wife was cheating on him
– Walter as malicious and calculating, rather
than confrontational
– Decision upon cold, calculated punishment by
enslaving his wife into a life where she would
be miserable
Sub-plots

The relationship between their neighbor
Waddington and his Chinese wife
– Waddington’s affection and his wife’s
admiration towards him
– Forcing Kitty to examine her own relationship
with Walter

Motives of the French nuns operating the
orphanage
– To serve God’s will to serve others with love
while one has it
– Help Kitty become more self-aware
Ending of the Film





Walter and Kitty are able to find love and
acceptance of each other toward the end of the
film
Portrayal of raw human emotion, anger,
resentment, guilt and finally acceptance
Walter and Kitty are never happy in the film
A somber acknowledgement of growing respect
for each other that did not exist before the
betrayal
Under the life-threatening Cholera, they are able
to put their bitterness aside, find companionship
and mutual understanding
Imagery
 Breathtaking
images of an idyllic,
seemingly mythical Chinese
landscape
– Idyllic beauty = Immense suffering
– The cholera epidemic and political
turmoil ravages the landscape
Imagery
 The
scenery: symbolic for Walter and
Kitty’s relationship
– Seemingly a healthy young married
couple to those they initially meet
– Just as the perfect Chinese landscape
– Immense suffering, grief and turmoil
inside
– Always feel like a foreigner in an
unfamiliar land uncertain of what will
happen next
Colour and Lighting
The beginning of the film: gorgeous bright
colors
 After the betrayal: more muted colors
 A lot of dead colors like grays and very
drab blues:

– Impact of sadness, loneliness and unease
Early in the film (before the betrayal):
bright and cheerful lighting
 Post-affair: dim lighting filled with
shadows

– Creating an atmosphere of fear and
uncertainty and a sense of powerlessness
Conclusion
A
powerful and provocative tale of
betrayal, revenge and the immense
emotional havoc that infidelity reaps
on relationships
 A story about self-awareness
 A cautionary tale to be weary of the
“painted veil”
Conclusion
 Do
not fall in love with an illusion
 Get to truly know your love-interest
to avoid disenchantment and pain
when the truths are revealed
 Ending: a somber tale of betrayal,
consequence, self-discovery and the
difficult road to redemption
~ The End ~