M. Butterfly

In David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly the complex relationship between love and fantasy is brought to life on stage. The title is adapted from that of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and in many ways Hwang’s play can be viewed as itself a commentary on Puccini’s opera, in particular, as a commentary on the stereotypes that characterize the worldview of those in the West which the opera so vividly represents. But Hwang’s aim in M. Butterfly should not be taken as a simpleminded attempt to make his audience adopt a more realistic and politically correct view of the world. Rather, Hwang seeks to highlight something deeper: a conflict between fantasy and reality that lies at the heart of human experience.

At the play’s opening, the protagonist, Rene Gallimard, speaking from his prison cell, explains that what follows will consist of his recounting of the events that led to his imprisonment, and that by doing so he will correct the misunderstandings that have made him a laughing-stock. As the events of the play unfold, the audience gradually comes to sense that what they are watching is in fact the product of Gallimard’s warped imagination, and that the events have been distorted in ways that serve to protect Gallimard’s fantasized ideas about himself.

Gallimard had been serving as a French diplomat in China, but was dissatisfied with his position, as he was with his marriage to Helga, whom he did not love but remained with for the sake of convenience. Feeling unlucky in work and in love, Gallimard longed for a life that was better suited for the strong, masculine type that he fancied himself to be.

Things change for Gallimard after he attends a performance of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. Overtaken by the beauty and charm of the lead performer, Song Liling, Gallimard approaches Song and expresses his appreciation of Puccini’s opera and of Song’s portrayal of its most important role. Song thanks Gallimard for the compliment, but admits that he does not share Gallimard’s enthusiasm about the opera itself, which Song says contains ideas about the domination of West over East that Song finds repugnant. But Gallimard pays little attention to Song’s critique, and the two go on to develop an intimate relationship.

Their relationship is largely driven by Gallimard seeing in Song the realization of everything that a woman should be. Put differently, Song is a perfect fit to play the role of the perfect woman as that role is defined within Gallimard’s imagination. Coincidentally enough, this role coincides very closely with that of the main character in Puccini’s opera. As we learn more about Gallimard, we see that Puccini’s Madam Butterfly exerts a strong influence over the way he views himself and the way he relates to other people. Not only does he identify song with the character of “Butterfly,” but he fancies himself as playing the role of “Pinkerton,” another character from Puccini’s opera, who is able to secure the submission of “Butterfly” to his romantic advances through exercise of his dominating masculinity.

After many weeks of interaction, Gallimard is frustrated that he has been unsuccessful in his attempts to advance in his relationship with Song from an emotional to a physical level of intimacy. At each instance, Song appears nervous and finds a way to remove herself from the situation. Gilliard decides that he will break off communication with Song. After many weeks, Gallimard receives a letter in which song expresses the pain and longing that the distance between them has produced and pleads for a reunion. At the same time, Gallimard has received a promotion giving him the authority to decide how the French will conduct political and military relations in the area, including advising on how to carry out operations in Vietnam, where war has broken out. Elated by these developments, which Gallimard sees as consequences of his exercise of masculine virility and power, Gallimard reignites his relationship with song.

We later discover that Song, Gallimard’s love interest and ideal of femininity, is actually a man. More specifically, he is a spy working for the Chinese and masquerading as a woman in order to extract information about what actions foreign entities are planning to undertake around China. Despite being put up to the charade by the Chinese government, Song’s interactions with Gallimard arouse suspicion among Chinese authorities that song is a homosexual, which they regarded as a crime. At the same time, Gallimard is being accused of treason for leaking secrets to the Chinese. It is for such acts of treason that Gallimard has been imprisoned.

To those who look at Gallimard as an utter fool and ridicule him for being duped as he was, Gallimard defends the actions which led to his imprisonment. He insists that what he was pursuing was in fact the ideal woman and that songs actual gender is of little significance compared to what song had represented to him. Gallimard then proceeds to dress himself up as “Butterfly” and commits suicide by hari kari, a traditional practice of sacrifice in China involving the thrusting of a sword through one’s chest.