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Fatima Arriola

Professor Batty

English 102

10 December 2017

The Love That Turned into a Tragic Mystery

Fictional critics have studied David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly, to be a

relationship between two men (one, a seemingly heterosexual male; the other concealing himself

in the appearance of a female) and the power of the West over the East. Critics frequently

conclude that Hwang was, in fact, representing this image of an entire Western culture over the

supposedly unassuming Chinese culture by allowing us to see another genre of the Chinese

culture. However, he's focusing on a different view of the story to emphasize a new concept to

show his audience a unique diversity of human nature while at the same time telling a beautiful

story about two lovers who technically are homosexual. While not disregarding the strength of

these opinions and concepts, my argument instead focuses on the separate homosexual identities

of the characters of Song and Gallimard which, plays a crucial role in understanding the burdens

of gender roles in a mainly heterosexual world and context. It is Song's sympathy for men, which

is where the actual knowledge and observation is being taken from, which allows him to deceive

Gallimard. Song and Gallimard both share the conventional idea of how a person can live two

lives in one body without even knowing. M. Butterfly tends to promote Masculinity/Femininity

binaries whereas we can understand both sides of a person becoming or showing an interest in

their sexuality sex.

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Hwang starts off the play by making Gallimard give a monologue to the viewers about

his current difficulty and how the name of the play came about. The title, M. Butterfly, he says,

comes from Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly in which a white, American man falls for a

young Asian woman. They start to have romantic relations and ultimately marry the young

woman who has a child that's technically his; the American then leaves for three years, only to

his return to tell his earliest that he has married an American woman. Discouraged, the young

woman commits suicide and leaves her child with the American (Hwang 12-19). The story then

becomes known as a tragic love story depicting the fact that the characters dont know their exact

feelings toward each other. Gallimard doesnt know his true identity as a man, unlike song who

is pretending to be someone who he feels comfortable being without feeling ashamed. Many

critics such as Irmscher surround their main argument on the point that: Hwang is using this

similarity of Puccinis opera with his own story of homosexual lovers to clarify a Western

imperialism over Eastern cultures where it shows binaries of creating a new existence of human

nature (623-624). Irmscher sees continuously more thing in the play than ever before. For

example, Hwang, suggestion on indicating western dominance, could also suggest another

resolution for its use: to observe the separate sexualities of Gallimard and Song and the ways

they are shaped by a society which is required heterosexuality.

As we get taken back to Gallimard's earlier life, we see that Gallimard, a French

ambassador in China, has fallen in love with an Asian "woman" who's beyond beautiful by the

name of Song, while he was in his job. He describes her as a "butterfly" due to her playing this

role in Asian Theater and becomes obsessed with her, which leads to ultimate desire and a 20-

year love affair. Eventually, we learn that Song is a spy who has disguised himself as a woman to
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collect information for the Communist Party; Gallimard cannot handle this exposure and

commits suicide creating yet another similar to Madame Butterfly (Hwang 69). At this moment

of death is when the second purpose of that opera's title becomes important in connection to the

issue of homosexuality. Close to the beginning of the play, Gallimard defends the Chinese

woman's suicide in Madame Butterfly who quotes, "Death with honor/ Is better than life/ Life

with dishonor," (Hwang 17). This quote can be connected with Gallimard's suicide as he views

homosexuality as a shame to himself and humanity, and feels the only outflow is death.

The serious problem that keeps both the reading and the analysis of this play is pointed

to the political monarchy of the hidden lookout that people (specifically Americans) will view

the play in a mostly heterosexual, white, protestant field that creates this type of "tunnel dream"

which gives us an incomplete lookout. What most people tend to disrespect, is the extraordinary

matter of whether Gallimard is a homosexual or not. In a 1989 Hwang had an interview with,

Don Digaetani who asked him a question about the relationship that Gallimard and Song had in

his story. In his response, Hwang chose to leave the open-ended question saying, "On some

level, he knows he's gay He lived in a homophobic period," Hwang then debates the issue of

homosexuality in different cultures and tries to inhabit into describing an obedient East (Hwang

and Digaetani 145). It is interesting to see Hwang answer such question in a very informal way.

The play was out in the late 1980's when homosexuality was beginning to become more open,

but in many places, it was still a debatable topic. As a result, Hwang likely did not want to risk

an obvious respond as it could lead to a disaster in the audience numbers. We can still see,

through Hwang's writing, the indication that shows a gay Gallimard and Song, especially in the

character descriptions and stage directing. This shows binaries because Hwang wants to show
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people that theres another side of loving someone. Hes trying to show that gender shouldnt be

the problem with loving someone. You can be a woman who loves another woman or a man

liking another man and still be in love regardless what society says. According to Hwang, when

directors are casting Song, they should, "Preferably find a man," and if they choose a woman to

play Song instead they "run the risk of abusing the very sexual domination it pursues to judge,"

(Hwang 89). Critics such as Zamora argue that Hwang uses this "American-based theme to

instill a political and cultural reformation," (35). However, Hwang is not only trying to send

political ideas of the overlapping East/West theme but possible also to change cultural attitudes

towards homosexuality. Song's make-up on stage, for example, is stark white, to represent the

western values of beauty. It also can be to serve the domain of thought as a female perspective;

after all, Song is trying to cover up the exile of being a homosexual by masking himself with a

white, heterosexual body. Now that we have discussed Hwang reason of writing such story, let's

move on to how these characters represent homosexual.

Gallimard's homosexual nature and character, are several symbols that lead to the statement

that Song and, more importantly, Gallimard is gay. First, we have the jail cell in which Gallimard

is kept. This space represents Gallimard's inside sexuality, as the heterosexual world outside

cannot accept his homosexuality, and therefore, he has to restrict this "difference" to a separate

monarchy of thought. These homosexual thoughts are becoming Gallimard nightmares just how

his desires are gone away from the heterosexual world. This symbol relates directly to Glover

and Kaplan's analysis of Queer Theory as they try to "define queer" and categorize it as a "desire

beyond the regular confines of heteronormativity," (132-133).

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Hwang's theme of Western imperialism over Eastern cultures conveys with it the concept

of the heterosexual privilege. As an outcome, both audience members and critics fail to see the

actual importance of Gallimard and Song's relationship. Their internal struggle is a straight result

of the heterosexual world's feminization and dominance of the obedient homosexual society. Just

as in Western dominance has led to colonization and submissiveness of the Eastern world,

heterosexual dominance has firmed and continues to further failure the domain of homosexual

culture and closets "queer" sexualities. Especially in the society we live in, I feel disgusted every

day by the hate that homosexual get. It's a disappointment to see people reactions toward others,

which is why I think Song and Gallimard story is calling them into questions. The audience will

always have different opinions even if the authors are trying to persuade a moral lesson in the

story.
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Works Cited

Glover, David, and Cora Kaplan. Genders. 2nd. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.

Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. New York, N.Y.: New American Library, 1989.

Print.

Hwang, David, and John Digaetani. M Butterfly: An Interview with David Henry

Hwang.TDR; 33.3(1989):141-153.

Irmscher, Christoph. The Absolute Power of a Man? Staging Masculinity in Giacomo

Puccini and David Henry Hwang." Amerikastudien / American Studies; 43.4

(1998): 619-628. Print.

Zamora, Maria C., and Inc ebrary. Nation, Race & History in Asian American Literature:

Re-membering the Body. New York: Peter Lang, 2008.