M. Butterfly

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The article is about the play. For the film version, see M. Butterfly (film).

M. Butterfly is a 1988 play by David Henry Hwang, which deals with themes about cultural stereotypes of East vs West (see Orientalism), and is loosely based on the real life relationship between Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei-Pu.

The play was inspired by the opera Madame Butterfly. Some critics have suggested that the opera is racist and sexist for its portrayal of Asian women as being the 'ideal woman' due to their supposed submissiveness and passivity. The opera fits into a longer tradition, as outlined in Edward Said's Orientalism, for example, of Western writers imaging and shaping the East according to their own prejudices. The play M. Butterfly is an attempt to deal with and subvert these patterns.^{[citation needed]}

1 Plot
2 Broadway production
3 Characters
4 External link
5 Sources

[edit] Plot

The main character, Rene Gallimard, is a civil servant attached to the French embassy in China. He falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera diva, Song Liling, who is actually a man masquerading as a woman. (Note that in traditional Beijing opera, there were no female singers, only dan, male performers who specialized in playing female roles.) Unbeknownst to Gallimard, Song is also a spy for the Chinese government, and uses his favor with Gallimard to extract vital information from him, arraying herself as the meek, submissive Asian female of his fantasies.

Gallimard is eventually sent back to France in disgrace for his role in completely misintrepeting (thanks to Liling) the native Vietnamese and Chinese in the Vietnam War. He also breaks up with his wife Helga because he loves Liling so much.

Since Gallimard has been sent back to France, Liling is no longer useful to the Chinese government and the government tortures him for having sex with a man.

Act Two begins with Liling coming to France and resuming his affair with with Gallimard. They stay together for twenty years until the truth is revealed and Gallimard is convicted of treason and imprisoned. Unable to face the fact that his "perfect woman" is actually a man, he retreats deep within himself and his memories (the action of the play is depicted as his own disordered, distorted recollection of the events surrounding their affair). The ending scene protrays Gallimard committing seppuku while Liling watches and smokes a cigarette.

[edit] Broadway production

M. Butterfly premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Mar 20, 1988. It was directed by John Dexter. The original cast featured John Lithgow as Gallimard and B.D. Wong as Song Liling. David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubenstein also played Gallimard at various times during the original run.