# Epigraph explained — The Painted Veil

> Chapter companion for The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

## What happens

The epigraph presents a single line from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet, introducing the central metaphor of the painted veil that obscures the true nature of life.

## Themes in this chapter

### Self-Deception and Truth

The painted veil symbolizes the illusions and self-deceptions that people mistake for life itself.

## Key lines

> the painted veil which those who live call Life

The colorful, deceptive surface that living people mistakenly believe is reality.

_This line establishes the novel's central metaphor of life as a painted veil hiding a deeper truth._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se/chapters/epigraph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se/chapters