M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

John Lithgow as Gallimard in the 1988 Broadway debut

at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in NYC

Jeremy Irons as Gallimard in David Cronenberg’s

1993 film adaptation of the play

Play Summary

Playwright

David Henry Hwang

- Born August 11, 1957 in Los Angeles, California

- Educated at the Yale School of Drama

- Interested in Asian-American issues/identities

- Aims to combat stereotypes through his work

- Multiple award-winning playwright

- Currently working on three musicals

- Resides in New York City with his family

Rene Gallimard is a French diplomat stationed in China. Song Liling is a Chinese opera singer. Gallimard meets Song after one of her performances of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly. Gallimard and Song begin a twenty year romance, which produces a child. The French government convict Rene Gallimard and Song Liling of spying for China and they are put to trial. At this time, Gallimard discovers that his lover is not only an espionage agent working for China, but also a man. Devastated by the destruction of his vision of the “perfect woman”, Gallimard dresses himself like the “Butterfly” and commits suicide in prison.

A Deconstructivist Madame ButterflySeeks to combat Western stereotypes of Asians as exotic, fragile, submissive, subservient, feminized, disempowered, etc.

Draws attention to the West’s exotification of Eastern peoples and deconstructs Eurocentric notions of an unquestionable dominance over all other cultures.

Confronts the phenomenon of the “de-sexualization of Asian men and hyper-sexualization of Asian women (Fung, 3).

Draws parallel between East-West relations and those of men and women.

Challenges the notion of a gender binary and offers a spectrum of sexuality.

Examines and deconstructs Orientalism, which “encompasses a broad spectrum of Western attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes regarding Asian people, cultures, and nations” (enotes.com).

Forces Western audiences to contend with their stereotypes regarding the East.

Creates a role-reversal in which the West finds itself compromised by the East.

Origins of M. Butterfly

Long and David Belasco(playwright/producer) put on

a one-act play titled “Madame Butterfly” in New

York in 1900. What popularized this story was the

opera composed by Giacomo Puccini (after he had

seen Long’s version in the Summer of 1900” (Fung

2).

“The character of Madame Butterfly was first created in a

novelette by John Luther Long, which was published in

American Century Magazine in 1898. He was inspired by an

Orientalist fantasy that tells a story of a European

sailor’s temporary marriage to a Japanese Geisha in Pierre

Loti’s novel Madam Chrysantheme in 1887.

Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei PuHwang based the play on the true story of Bernard Boursicot, a French embassy worker and Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese opera singer. Shi Pei Pu and Boursicot had a twenty year relationship, during which, Shi Pei Pu discretely extracted copious amounts of sensitive information from Boursicot regarding the French government. Shi Pei Pu was in actuality, a male espionage agent working for the Chinese government and masquerading as a woman.

In 1983, both Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu were arrested in Paris and put to trial, at which time Boursicot confessed that he had believed Shi Pei Pu to be a woman for the entirety of their relationship. The real Boursicot attempted suicide in prison but did not succeed. Both men were given prison sentences but were eventually pardoned and released early. In the play, much of real story is preserved, and Hwang received approval from Boursicot himself. Hwang discovered that Bernard Boursicot saw the play in London and had told a reporter after the show that, “he felt the psychology of the play was basically accurate.”

Left: Bernard Boursicotand Shi Pei Pu on trial in Paris in 1986

Right: Shi Pei Pu in traditional Peking Opera

dress (early 1960s)

Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

Left: Geraldine Farrar (1908)

Right: Licia Albanese

(1930s)

Puccini’s opera made famous the figure of the Asian “Butterfly”. In Madama Butterfly, Lt. Pinkerton, an American sailor marries Cio-Cio-San, a Japanese Geisha girl but abandons her for an American bride. Ignorant of his betrayal, Butterfly waits patiently for Pinkerton’s return and in his absence; she gives birth to his child.

When Pinkerton finally returns to Japan with his American wife to collect the child, Butterfly is so devastated that she commits suicide. The method of her suicide speaks volumes as to the West’s stereotypical views of the East as submissive and self-sacrificing: Cio-Cio-San blindfolds her baby, puts a miniature American flag in his hand to greet his father, and then proceeds to stab herself.

TheatricalityDefine: Metatheatricality

“The word metatheatre comes from the Greek prefix 'meta', which implies 'a level beyond' the subject that it qualifies; metatheatricality is generally agreed to be a device whereby a play comments on itself, drawing attention to the literal circumstances of its own production, such as the presence of the audience or the fact that the actors are actors, and/or the making explicit of the literary artifice behind the production” (Wikipedia).

Examples of metatheatricality in M. Butterfly:

- Gallimard addresses the audience- Reference is made to Puccini’s opera- Gallimard’s prison cell is a space in which he can travel (i.e. he overhears and can comment on gossip at a party)- The Japanese kabuki theatre convention of the Onnagata- Rene has an affair with a woman named Renee

Personal/Theatrical Space

- Gallimard and Song exist in separate and unique spaces due to their secrets.- Song’s secret: he is a man. Gallimard’s secret: he is homosexual.- Gallimard attempts to invade Song’s personal space by ordering her to strip. When she does, Gallimard retreats out of fear of having his space invaded (realizing his homosexuality).- Gallimard’s space is invaded when Songs disobeys his orders to stop stripping. - When Song drops ‘his’ briefs, both Gallimard and Song invade each other’s space. - Once Gallimard realizes Song is a man, Song’s and Gallimard’s secrets are out. - By Song revealing his male gender, Gallimard’s defined space as a dominant Western man is destroyed, as his homosexuality is exposed and confirmed.

Pictured Above: Onnagata

Orientalism and Edward SaidPalestinian literary theorist, Edward Said’s 1978 book Orientalism describes and deconstructs the romanticized and essentialized stereotypes of the East as created by the West. Said’s discussion of Orientalism was highly influential on post-colonial studies and many elements of his writings are reflected in the themes of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly.

Quotes

“[Orientalism is] prejudiced outsider interpretations of the East, shaped by the attitudes of European Imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries…”

“Western knowledge about the East is not generated from facts or reality but from preconceived archetypes that envision all “Eastern” societies as fundamentally similar to one another, and fundamentally dissimilar to ‘Western societies.”

“Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient’s difference with its weakness…As a cultural apparatus Orientalism is all aggression…”

Edward Said

Judith Butler’s Gender PerformativityGender Performativity is a term that was coined by the post-structuralistphilosopher Judith Butler in her book, Gender Trouble (1990). In this book,Butler argues that, “Gender is not something one is, it is something one does; it is a sequence of acts, a doing rather than a being” (179).

Butler describes gender as a social construct that has been created by society and is therefore not innate. Gender is something that is learned; we “put on” gender. In other words, there are no set characteristics that are synonymous with being either male or female.

“There is no original or primary gender a drag imitates, but gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original; in fact, it is a kind of

imitation itself…what they imitate is a phantasmic ideal of heterosexual identity…” – Judith Butler (Imitation and Gender Insubordination)

Rene Gallimard is in a gender crisis in which he is trapped between a perceived gender binary. Gallimard is unable to resolve his obsession with Lt. Pinkerton and Cio-Cio San and is instead conquered by it. Song Liling exists on a gender spectrum, which allows her/him to be victorious over Gallimard.

Judith Butler

Freud’s Theory of the Phallic Woman- In 1927 Freud introduced the Fantasy of the Phallic Woman.- He believed that at some time, all young boys refuse to take cognizance of the fact that a woman does not possess a penis. When they see a vagina for the first time, they see that the woman does not possess a penis and think that it has been castrated. This then creates fears that their own penis will be castrated. - Because women have been castrated, it proves that they are strong and powerful as they have survived such a life-changing event. Men, in turn, feel emasculated by this.- Freud also believed that a way some men attempt to overcome persisting childhood castration fears is by privately masquerading (as women).- The idea that a woman has a penis, "remains a token of triumph over the fear of castration and a protection against it“.

Because Song has a penis, Gallimard feelshis own penis (his masculinity) is protected.

Sigmund Freud

Arguments

Julia and Fiona:We argue that Song is symbolically the powerful Western Male while Gallimard is symbolically the fragile Eastern female all along. We aim to prove this by examining relevant theatrical aspects of the play. We also argue that Gallimard’s continual denial of his homosexuality is displayed through his refusal to let go of his Westernized mentality of what it means to be a heterosexual man.  

Fatima:Freud’s theory of the Phallic Woman proves that Gallimard believed Song was a man because Song’s powerful influence helped him realize his own subverted masculinity.

Jay:To conclude that the relationship between Rene Gallimard and Song Liling was simply a case of closeted homosexuality oversimplifies a complex situation. The journeys of both Song Liling and Rene Gallimard dismantle many prevailing notions of heteronormativity and Orientalism, and more specifically make clear that gender is not innate but rather, it is a social construct and therefore, it is performed. I support this argument using the works of gender theorist, Judith Butler.

QuestionsThe play essentially concludes with a role-reversal, in which the East takes the cruel and dominant position the West previously occupied. Arguably , the only difference between Puccini and Hwang is that Gallimard is the victim in Hwang’s version. Hwang seemingly provides no solution for this power struggle, save for West and East taking turns as oppressor. Discuss.

If Song Liling was played by a white woman instead of an Asian man, how would this play change?

M. Butterfly was written in 1988 and was based on a story that took place in the 1960s. What do you find to be relevant, interesting, or controversial about this play in 2011?

Compare the two clips showing Gallimard’s and Song’s first meeting. Specifically think about the difference between stage acting and film acting.

The obvious question: How did Rene Gallimard not know that Song Liling was a man for the duration of a twenty-year romantic relationship?

Lithgow and Wongas Gallimard and Liling

Viewing1988 television advertisement for M. Butterfly at the Eugene O’Neill Theater in NYC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ9tKtha1NE

David Henry Hwang talks about M. Butterfly in an interview with the Guthrie Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4S_9ebLbgM

John Lithgow as Rene Gallimard and B.D. Wong as Song Liling in 1988. Directed by John Dexter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt9KoIXup6Q

Jeremy Irons as Rene Gallimard and John Lone as Song Liling in David Cronenberg’s 1993 film adaptation. Screenplay by David Henry Hwang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECtgk67r2Yw