Joanna Muralles

English 102

Professor Batty

16 October 2017

The Truth About My Disguise

David Henry Hwang's drama M. Butterfly was influenced by a real life event between a

spy and a French Diplomat and also includes the opera Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini.

In the opera by Puccini a Japanese woman marries a U.S. navy man, who treats her without

respect but still she remains devoted to him and ultimately gives her life for him becoming his

butterfly. The opera much like the play M. Butterfly calls into question the power dynamics of

the Western man as it is determined who actually plays the role of becoming butterfly. Hwangs

drama casts the stereotype of men from the Western countries being seen as having power over

the Easterners.

To fully analyze the text and its power dynamics I will apply a Postcolonial Criticism

lens. Postcolonial theory goes deeper into the power, political and economical structure area. It

helps figure out who has the upper hand in the stories and how the countries with more power

often see themselves as better and setting the example and eventually colonizing other countries.

Postcolonial Criticism is shown in the drama between the Western viewpoints on the Eastern

countries. The article titled Colonialism, Imperialism, and Orientalism in David Henry Hwang

M. Butterfly The resulting play is a textbook execution of postcolonial deconstruction that

dissects the flaws of imperialism by drawing on Edward Saids concepts of Orientalism and

shows that gender characteristics are not innate to their assigned sex, but a matter of socially
constructed performances. Through M. Butterfly Hwang was able to break the natural thought

of the way a woman or man are designed to act and bring into the light a controversial topic.

In M Butterfly we have characters like Gallimard and his friends Pinkerton and Marc who are

French Diplomats from the Western country that are sent out to China. Pinkerton unlike

Gallimard knows his way with women , he knows how to speak to them and attract them and he

holds onto his masculinity and projects it through them. Pinkerton like many other Westerns

believes that they have more power than the Easterns. In Scene 3 of act 1 (pg 6.) Gallimard and

Pinkerton along with their friend Marc are holding a conversation on their perspective on women

from China, Pinkerton says Not like American girls. Its true what they say about Oriental

girls. They want to be treated bad! He is comparing the women of China to American women

basically he is saying that the women of China are unworthy and that he can treat them without

respect and the way he would please because that is supposedly the way that they want to be

treated but it's all about the men of the Westerns believing that the women would die and

sacrifice for them because of the reputation that the Westerns have as being powerful men. This

is an example of Westerns seeing themselves as high and mighty and having power over the

Easterns.

Gallimard does not fit into the stereotypical thoughts of a Western man, he is shy,

awkward and unattractive. Gallimard is aware of his characteristics and knows that he is not as

masculine as his friends. He is influenced by them and makes attempts to fit into the thoughts of

what a Western man is suppose to be like. Scene 5, act one is Gallimard explains the first time he

sees Song, he says to himself We, who are not handsome,nor brave,nor powerful, yet

somehow believe, like Pinkerton, that we deserve a Butterfly. He is overtaken by Songs beauty.

Gallimard is aware of the things that he does not obtain, he is aware of his appearance and the
way that he carries himself but he thinks that he is still worthy because of where he comes from.

Like Pinkerton, Gallimard begins to think that his background makes his deserving of anything

that he wishes for.

Throughout the play Gallimard begins a relationship with Song despite the fact that he is

a married man, this also shows how his friend Pinkerton who would have many affairs and even

leave his wives set the example of masculinity of the Western man. Gallimard is infatuated with

Song and the way she carries herself, he makes many attempts to gather her attention, he views

her as the perfect women. As many attempts as he makes to get her attention Song does not fall

for Gallimard which frustrates him, so he decides to no longer visit her at the opera theater

because he knew that she would come looking for him. Scene 11, act one he receives a letter

from Song, the letter reads I am out of words. I can hide behind dignity no longer. What do you

want? I have already given you my shame. Song is falling under the stereotypical thoughts of

Chinese women, she is chasing after Gallimard which is what he wanted and knew would

happen. The fact that Song a beautiful and submissive women comes looking for him and says

that she has given him her shame gives Gallimard a sense of power that he has never

experienced the power that shes gives to him excites him. She allows for Gallimard to find his

masculinity through her shame.

Though Song holds up the characteristics of the typical Chinese women she flips the

role of the person that holds the power. She makes Gallimard believe that in the relationship that

had that lasted for 20 years he was the one who held the highest title. She knew his perspectives

of the women of Eastern countries and she made herself fit into the categories in order to

manipulate and use Gallimard for her own benefits. Many years after, Song and Gallimard find

themselves in courtroom in Paris, where Song reveals her true self , a man. Song played a
woman to lure in Gallimard and obtain valuable information about the war. She was a spy who

made Gallimard fall in love with her for the sake of her job. In the courtroom she asked by the

judge to share her secret knowledge, Song says The West thinks of itself as masculine-big

guns, big industry, big money-so the East is feminine-weak,delicate,poor but good at art,and

full of inscrutable wisdom-the feminine mystique. She is aware of the thoughts on Oriental

countries which is what gave her the power to make Gallimard reveal the valuable information.

The scholarly article written by Samira Sasani says M. Butterfly, on the other hand,delinates a

colonial relationship between a French diplomat and the Chinese opera singer in which not only

the colonizer but also the colonized exerts power and intimidates the other power. Song made

Gallimard believe that he was the dominant one in the relationship but really she had a plan of

her own to trap him, she was the one who obtained all the power.

Song played a role and fulfilled Gallimard's fantasy of a women, she pleased him and his

dreams of a women. Once she revealed her true identity it ruined his dreams and made come

back to reality. To a reality where was made a fool and where his fantasy of a women did not

exist. In scene three, act three inside of his prison cell Gallimard says But how can it face the

one sin that implies all other? The devastating knowledge that, underneath it all, the object of her

love was nothing more, nothing less than a man. Knowing that what he believed for so long

was not truly there and that it came to an end devastated him and ultimately brought him to his

death, Gallimard committed suicide and chose to have a death with honor. An article by William

A. Henry quotes Hwang recalling what interested him was the idea of the perfect woman. A

real woman can only be herself, but a man, because he is presenting an idealization,can aspire to

the idea of a perfect woman. In the drama Gallimard was blinded by the concept of Song being

the his ideal woman that he never bothered to look past her concept. The fact that Gallimard was
so blinded by his fantasy of Song gave her the advantage to manipulate Gallimard to her own

benefit.

Song publicly humiliated Gallimard by revealing her true identity that Gallimard was

unaware of for 20 years making others view him as a joke. In the end it seemed like Gallimard

had finally found his masculine side but it is the chinese woman Song who proved that he

obtained power. She was granted the power, she came from an Eastern country where they were

seen as little had power but she skillfully took over a white Western man. She reversed the roles

of who possessed power.

 Work Cited

1.Dickey, Jerry R. 'Myths of the East, Myths of the West': Shattering Racial and Gender

Stereotypes in the Plays of David Henry Hwang. Old West-New West: Centennial Essays,

edited by Timothy J. Sisler, University of Idaho Press, Moscow, 1993, pp. 272280

2.Hwang, David. M. Butterfly. New York:New American Library, Dramatics Play

Service Inc , 1988,pp. 100.

3.Horn, Jason J. Colonialism, Imperialism, and Orientalism in David Henry Hwang M.

Butterfy. Literary Ramblings, May 2014.

4.Sasani, Samira. The Colonized (the Other) and the Colonizer's Response to the

Colonial Desire of 'Becoming Almost the Same but Not Quite the Same' in M. Butterfly.

Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 6, no. 2, Mar. 2015, p. 435.