Inferiority brought by physiological defects as well as the conflict of the surrounding environment made Maugham observe human nature more objectively and tolerantly, which is demonstrated in his works。 He concluded that human nature is complicated , unknowable, compatible between good and evil。 So when writing, Maugham maximized authenticity and objectivity of the stories to the utmost of his capacity。 He would rather let the readers to observe, to ponder, to judge the character of virtues and vices than exaggerate the goodness or hide evil。 

The Painted Veil is created in this form and method。 Maugham said “this is my only one novel developed by the story rather than the characters”。 (Maugham, 1925, p。4)From this, it can be seen that Maugham did not create these characters in his imagination, but in the process of writing looking for the right role from his own experience。The archetypes of these characters in this novel are the real existence of the people in different places。 While reading The Painted Veil, the description of the heroine Kitty can also reveal Maugham’s observation of the characters’ psychological development and even human nature。

The Painted Veil is about a story of woman’s growth beginning with the narrative of the Kitty。 Before marriage, Kitty was a beautiful socialite who wasted her youth at the party。 Nevertheless, when she saw her less outstanding sister find an ideal husband, she was so eager to get rid of family ties that Kitty married Walter Finn, a withdrawn bacteriologist, in a hurry though she did not know him much at all。Walter loved warm and shallow Kitty, but Kitty didn't love boring Walter。 After Marriage, Kitty came to live in Hong Kong with Walter。 Dissatisfied with the marriage life, Kitty met married Townsend, an assistant colonial secretary by accident。 They quickly fell in love with each other and began an affair。 But later Walter found his wife's infidelity and frantically began his terrible revenge plan。 He forced Kitty to follow him to  cholera epidemic Mei-tan-fu, a China town to deal with the crazy cholera。 Under the condition of the lover's betrayal and the ruin of reputation, Kitty had to accompany Walter。 However in that beautiful but dangerous environment, Kitty struggled in love, betrayal and death。 She witnessed disillusion with life and death。 Finally she revealed the veil of her present life and embarked on her self-actualization。

1。2 Significance of This Study

The Painted Veil, as mentioned before yet has not received enough attention at home and abroad。 However, for the novel there are many things worthy of exploring especially the heroine Kitty。 Although several papers analyze Kitty’s growth, self-redemption and her marriage, this paper tries to analyze Kitty’s growth and self-actualization from a new perspective。 This paper applies Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory to the study of Kitty。 It is hoped that this paper will help people to have a clear picture of The Painted Veil and a better understanding of the human psychology change。 Moreover, it can also give enlightenment to inpiduals that, when one is faced with problems, he can gain happiness as long as he can keep the awareness of rational needs and a clear direction towards self-actualization。

1。3 Structure of the Paper

This paper consists of five parts。

The introduction contains four portions。 The first portion makes a brief introduction of William Somerset Maugham and The Painted Veil。 Then the second and the fourth portion introduce the significance and overall structure of this paper。

The second part is the literature review summarizing up the previous researches on William Somerset Maugham and The Painted Veil。 Also Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory and its application to the analysis of literary works will be introduced。 From the literature review we can know the application of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory to the study of The Painted Veil is a novelty and has some significance。