M. Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang, was released in the late 1980s, during a time when homosexuality was still a prime controversial topic. In the play we meet the character Song who is a biological male passing himself off as a woman for the Chinese opera and as a Chinese Communist spy. Song carries on a relationship with Rene Gallimard, who appears to be a heterosexual male, for twenty years. This work arouses many questions about sexual identity and orientation. The most intriguing argument is centered around the individual homosexual identities of the characters of Song and Gallimard, and the belief that Gallimard is wrestling with his inner homosexuality.
The cultural norms of Chinese Communism influence why Song tries to cover up his sexual identity. Comrade Chin expresses, …show more content…
Song cunningly forces Rene Gallimard to confront the obscurity of his sexual orientation head on. As it happens, Gallimard’s profession, “Did I not undress her because I knew somewhere deep down, what I would find?” (Hwang 60) reveals that he is very much aware of Song’s sexual identity. Yet, he still convinces himself that, “Perhaps. Happiness is so rare that our mind can turn somersaults to protect it” (Hwang 60). Eventually, when we learn that Song is actually a spy who has pretended to be a woman in order to gather information for the Communist Party; Gallimard cannot take this act of betrayal and commits suicide creating a correspondence to the opera Madame Butterfly. Earlier in the play, Gallimard gives grounds for the Oriental woman’s suicide in Madame Butterfly by stating, “Death with honor/Is better than life/ Life with dishonor,” (Hwang 17). This quote can reveal a connection with Gallimard’s own suicide as he may view homosexuality as a dishonor to himself and of the culture, and believes his only way out is
The cultural norms of Chinese Communism influence why Song tries to cover up his sexual identity. Comrade Chin expresses, …show more content…
Song cunningly forces Rene Gallimard to confront the obscurity of his sexual orientation head on. As it happens, Gallimard’s profession, “Did I not undress her because I knew somewhere deep down, what I would find?” (Hwang 60) reveals that he is very much aware of Song’s sexual identity. Yet, he still convinces himself that, “Perhaps. Happiness is so rare that our mind can turn somersaults to protect it” (Hwang 60). Eventually, when we learn that Song is actually a spy who has pretended to be a woman in order to gather information for the Communist Party; Gallimard cannot take this act of betrayal and commits suicide creating a correspondence to the opera Madame Butterfly. Earlier in the play, Gallimard gives grounds for the Oriental woman’s suicide in Madame Butterfly by stating, “Death with honor/Is better than life/ Life with dishonor,” (Hwang 17). This quote can reveal a connection with Gallimard’s own suicide as he may view homosexuality as a dishonor to himself and of the culture, and believes his only way out is