An Analysis On The Protagonist In The Painted Veil From The Perspective Of Feminism

William Somerset Maugham is one of the most popular English writers in the 20th century. Maugham uses the calm, ironic and even critical attitude to review life, applies the plain language to explore the human nature and has a large number of readers at home and abroad. The Painted Veil is one masterpiece of Maugham’s literary works, published in 1925. It is the mere Maugham’s novel based on its narrative plot but not its characters. It tells a story that how the protagonist sets foot in the society and what oppression and inequality she has confronted on the way to the pursuit for her freedom and equal treatments. Under the oppression, Kitty struggles in the whirlpool of love, betrayal and death and witnesses the disillusionment and death; she finally reveals the life veil in front of her eyes and embarks on the road of females’spiritual growth. There have been not many studies on the novel The Painted Veil at home and overseas all the time; the studies on it involve the study of the writer, the analysis on the orientalism color and the analysis on the self-redemption of the novel.The thesis aims to analyze the protagonist from the feminist point of view. Her spiritual growth is a process of the feminist awareness from lack to awakening. The studies of the novel from the feminist point of view are not quite adequate, especially the process of Kitty’s feminist awareness awakening. Besides, the reasons why she has formed the feminist awareness awakening are not described in details. The thesis attempts to analyze the protagonist in The Painted Veil more concretely and comprehensively from the perspective of feminism.The thesis is divided into five parts. In the first chapter, William Somerset Maugham and the novel The Painted Veil will be introduced, which is followed by the literary review on the relevant fields of the novel study. The second chapter is the introduction of feminist theory. In the third chapter, the main body of the thesis is presented. The process of Kitty’s feminist awareness awakening will be analyzed from the feminist point of view, which includes the lack of her awareness as well as her awakening of feminist awareness in family, marriage and employment. The next chapter is about the reasons why Kitty has formed the feminist awareness awakening, which is implemented through the analysis on the social, family and individual aspects. The last part is the conclusion which concludes Kitty’s lack and awakening of her feminist awareness and reveals the value of the thesis by means of interpreting what a significant role Kitty has played in guiding females to rebel the oppression, to pursue equality and real independence and to realize their own value.