Takuma Okada

Professor Doherty
M. Butterfly: When East Met West

Biography and major themes:

David Henry Hwang was born in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University and the Yale

University School of Drama (Playscripts). Although his initial success was as a playwright, Hwang has

gone on to become a prolific opera librettist, been credited on several books for Broadway musicals,

and written a number of screenplays (Playscripts). He is a frequent collaborator with Philip Glass, and

his works have been performed in many major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera and the

San Francisco Opera (Steven Barclay Agency). Hwang wrote the book for the Disney musical Tarzan,

co-wrote the book for Aida, and worked on a modern update to the book for Flower Drum Song. In

addition to his many awards, including the Steinberg award for playwriting, Hwang served on the

Presidents Committee of on the Arts and Humanities under President Bill Clinton from 1994-2001

(Steven Barclay Agency).

Hwangs works often deal with how Asian and Asian-American people interact with Western

people and culture. As a Chinese-American himself, this typically takes place in the form of Chinese or

Chinese-American characters and plots. His first play FOB, which stands for Fresh Off the Boat, is

about the relationships between Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants. His next two plays combined

with FOB form a Trilogy of Chinese America in Hwangs words. The Dance and the Railroad is

about a former Chinese opera singer working as a coolie laborer in the 19th century (Rich, New York

Times). Family Devotions focuses on the effects of the West and religion on three generations of a

Chinese-American family (Rich, New York Times).

 M. Butterfly is probably the most well-known of Hwangs plays today. Loosely inspired by the

treasonous relationship between Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, its many themes include cultural

ideas around gender, misogyny, and Western ideals of masculinity and femininity (Rich, New York

Times). His increased recognition allowed Hwang to undertake larger projects, including the rewrite of

the libretto for Flower Drum Song. Although he has been working increasingly in opera, film, and

musical theatre, Hwang has written several more plays on the Asian-American experience. Golden

Child is based slightly off of Hwangs great-grandfathers conversion to Christianity (Steven Barclay

Agency). Yellow Face is a semi-autobiographical play about the failure of one of his earlier plays, Face

Value, which was about the yellowface controversy around Miss Saigon (Steven Barclay Agency).

Chinglish is his most recent Broadway play, based on interactions between Chinese and American

businessmen Hwang saw in China (Steven Barclay Agency). With an already impressive collection of

writing and hopefully many years left ahead of him, David Henry Hwang is the greatest Asian-American

playwright in this countrys history so far.

Summary

M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang opens with the main character, Rene Gallimard, in prison

for treason. He explains his current situation, and how he was unremarkable as a child and is the butt of

jokes now (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 1). Upstage the other major character, Song Liling, is seen dancing.

The stage directions note that the music is at first traditional Chinese music but transitions to Giacomo

Puccinis Madama Butterfly (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 1).

Before Gallimard tells his story, he has to give some context. The first few scenes serve this

purpose. One is of a group of people discussing and making fun of Gallimard (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 2).

He is a national fool, and in his childhood was even more insignificant and not even noticed enough to be
laughed at. Notably, Gallimard remarks here that he has loved the Perfect Woman, even though the

conversation has just made it clear that he was in a relationship with a man (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 3).

Several scenes are dedicated to an abridged English retelling of Madama Butterfly, performed by

Gallimard and other people in his life (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 3, 5). His childhood friend Marc appears in

Madama Butterfly and in a flashback to their school days. He is a womanizer, whereas Gallimard is

awkward and timid around women (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 4).

The story of Gallimards affair with Song Liling begins in 1960 in Beijing, where he is a junior

diplomat at the French Embassy. They first meet after a performance Song gives at the home of the

German ambassador (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 6). It is the death scene from Madama Butterfly. Gallimard

tries to compliment Song on her performance, but makes a fool of himself. Its a beautiful story, he

tells her, to which she replies, To a Westerner, perhaps. (Hwang Act 1, Scene 6). After thoroughly

deconstructing Gallimards opinion of the opera, Song tells him that he should come to the Peking

Opera to see a real performance .

Back at home, Gallimard and his wife Helga make fun of Chinese culture and opposition to the

story of Madama Butterfly (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 7). But despite his opinion of the culture, Gallimard is

drawn to Song and goes to her performance at the Peking Opera four weeks later. After walking her

home after the show, Gallimard realizes she has been flirting with him (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 8). That

night he lies to his wife, and has a dream where Marc tells him to pursue Song because Asian women

desire white men. In the morning, this is apparently confirmed when she calls after having stayed up all

night. She asks Gallimard to come to the opera again (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 9).

He attends the opera for fifteen weeks after that call, always walking and chatting with Song

after the performances. At the end of those fifteen weeks he is finally invited into her home, where her
personality is markedly different than their first meeting. It seems as if Song is exactly how Gallimard

pictured Asian women to be all along. Too flustered by having a man in her home, she asks him to leave

not long after he arrives (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 10).Gallimard then ignores Song for eight weeks to try to

bring out her supposed Asian submissive side (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 11). During this period he also gets

a promotion and upon receiving this good news finally gets Song to admit her role as his Butterfly. They

make love, but with Songs clothes on and in the dark, ending the first act (Hwang, Act 1 Scene 12,

13).

By the second act, the two start meeting frequently, but Song is now gaining intelligence from

these meetings and passing it on. Gallimard also gives a completely inaccurate opinion on the bombings

of Vietnam which will later hurt him (Hwang, Act 2 Scene 3). Song reveals her betrayal in a scene with

Comrade Chin, where she addresses the audience for the first time. Gallimard, afraid to face his

previous foolishness, hides until the scene ends and he can continue the story in his own way (Hwang,

Act 2 Scene 4).

After three years of the affair, the situation in Vietnam is growing worse and Gallimard has

started another affair with a student, Renee. This almost ruins his relationship with Song, who at the last

minute saves it by saying she is helpless to her love, and afterwards that she is pregnant (Hwang, Act 2

Scene 5, 6).

Song disappears and returns months later with a boy named Peepee (Hwang, Act 2 Scene 8).

But she refuses to marry or leave China, and Gallimard is sent back to France for poor judgement

(Hwang, Act 2 Scene 9). Song suffers during the Cultural Revolution in China. She is sent to a labor

commune and forced to give up her acting, only to be sent without resources to France to steal more
intelligence from Gallimard. The two briefly reunite, but then Song must remove her female disguise and

visibly become a man, ending the second act (Hwang, Act 2 Scene 10, 11).

The third act is short and quickly wraps up the play. Gallimards trial is shown, with Song in a

full suit and now referred to as a man. It is during this trial that Song explains a major theme of the play.

The West has a rape mentality towards Asian countries because it considers them as fragile and

feminine. Although the judge dismisses this opinion as nothing but amateur political theory, the events of

the play clearly reinforce Songs idea (Hwang, Act 3 Scene 1). The judge also asks if Gallimard ever

knew that Song was a man. Gallimard continues to say he didnt, and Song suggests that the fantasy and

Orientalist mindset prevented Gallimard from seeing or accepting the truth (Hwang, Act 3 Scene 1).

This leads to the conclusion, when Gallimard realizes he has been in love with a fantasy woman created

by a man this whole time (Hwang, Act 3 Scene 2). Realizing that this whole time he was the one taken

advantage of, Gallimard commits suicide dressed in the Butterfly costume, a mirror of the ending to the

opera (Hwang, Act 3 Scene 3).

Review

M. Butterfly is arguably David Henry Hwangs most well-known and critically-acclaimed work.

It takes inspiration from the relationship between Bernard Boursicot, a French diplomat, and Shi Pei Pu,

a Chinese opera singer. Intertwined with this story is Giacomo Puccinis opera Madama Butterfly.

Madama Butterfly is incredibly popular even today, but can also considered Orientalist and culturally

insensitive if not downright racist. In addition to pointing out the Wests oversimplification of Asian

culture through its use of the opera, the play also explores the dangers of living in fantasy and

demasculinizing Asians and Asian countries.

 From the very first scene, music from Madama Butterfly is heard. Song Liling is dancing

upstage to traditional Chinese music, but it changes to the Love Duet from Madama Butterfly (Hwang,

Act 1 Scene 1). One small sound cue can convey many meanings. The most obvious one is to show the

audience how Puccini took Asian music and Westernized it to make it popular in Europe. The music

also undergoes a change from authentic Chinese to a Western view of China based on stereotypes, such

as gongs, perfect fourth and fifth intervals, and Oriental instruments. It even reflects Songs upcoming

transformation from a Chinese actor and opera singer to the Western male fantasy of what Asian

women are like.

This male fantasy is what Rene Gallimard holds on to the majority of the play. In the first act

Gallimard acts out a shortened version of Madama Butterfly, and casts himself as Pinkerton (Hwang,

Act 1 Scene 3, 5). He sees parallels between his story and that of the operas, although he realizes at

the end of the play that the roles were reversed. He calls Song his Butterfly. When he is sent back to

France, Gallimard divorces Helga, preferring to live with his fantasy of Song than with his wife (Hwang,

Act 2 Scene 10). The incense that he burns and the art he hangs are objects that strengthen the illusion

of still being with Song. When she shows up in the Butterfly kimono, she fits right in with the room,

despite how ridiculous the whole situation is. Even the whole play is a fantasy, something Gallimard

clings to in prison. When Song finally strips away the fantasy of Madama Butterfly from himself,

Gallimard kills himself to be with his dreams instead of live with his dishonor (Hwang, Act 3 Scene 3).

The strength of the illusion would not have been possible without Gallimards preconceived bias

towards Asian people. As Song describes in the courtroom, he may have had difficulty perceiving Song

as a man because the West considers the East as fragile, submissive, and feminine (Hwang, Act 3 Scene

1). Because Song perfectly fit his expectations, Gallimard was completely caught in his fantasy. This
flawed idea of the West as masculine and the East as feminine also ruins Gallimards career. Whenever

he is asked about the Vietnam people and the ongoing conflict between the Americans and the rebels,

Gallimard is convinced that aggressive force will make the Vietnamese welcome the foreigners (Hwang,

Act 2 Scene 9). Yet his predictions are wrong each time and the Vietnamese continue to fight.

Ultimately, his bias sends him back to France and down to a low-level job.

David Henry Hwangs M. Butterfly is a powerful work, and easily deserves a four out of five

stars. It falls a little short in certain scenes with characters who are not the leads, including Marc and the

student Renee, due to awkwardly written dialogue. Some scenes also feel slightly unnecessary. In

tackling so many issues, the play also is dense and sometimes oversimplifies. But the major themes of

reversing Madama Butterfly, living in fantasy, and demasculinizing Asia are portrayed clearly by the

interactions between Gallimard and Song. The story is also fascinating and can stand on its own even

without the political commentary. Sources say however that Hwang will edit the play to update it for the

revival this year due to new information about the affair between Boursicot and Shi Pei Pou. Hopefully

this will smooth over a few rough points and bring this excellent play closer to perfection.

Works Cited

"David Henry Hwang." David Henry Hwang | Steven Barclay Agency. Steven Barclay Agency, n.d.

Web. 05 May 2017.

"David Henry Hwang." Playscripts. Playscripts, n.d. Web. 06 May 2017.

Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2008. Print

Rich, Frank. "Review/Theater; 'M. Butterfly,' a Story Of a Strange Love, Conflict and Betrayal." The

New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Mar. 1988. Web. 06 May 2017.
Rich, Frank. "STAGE: 'DANCE, RAILROAD,' BY DAVID HENRY HWANG." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 30 Mar. 1981. Web. 08 May 2017

Rich, Frank. "THEATER: HWANG'S 'FAMILY DEVOTIONS'." The New York Times. The New

York Times, 18 Oct. 1981. Web. 08 May 2017