Representation of the Other in M. Butterfly

【Abstract】In the Chinese American theatrical circles， David Henry Hwang has undoubtedly been “among the quintessential American playwrights， period， of his time”. The enormous success of his representative work M. Butterfly made him earn a universal acclaim as the “most renowned Asian American dramatist of the twentieth century”.

【Key Word】David Henry Hwang Butterf

In Orientalism， a pioneering humanistic production for transcultural research written by Edward W. Said， he has made an exploration into the negative effects caused by the dichotomic distinction between “the Orient” and “the Occident” in terms of ontology and epistemology. The creation of the two geographical and cultural halves serves the purpose of reflecting each other for “the development and maintenance of every culture require the existence of another different and competing alter ego” （Said 1995： 35）. To put it in a straight way， the very existence of the Orient acts as a foil or “the Other” to support the presence of the West itself and helps to define its self image and identity. Hence the Orient is man-made or as Said has named it， “Orientalized”， because “it could be―that is， submitted to being―made Oriental” （Said 1979： 6）. The West wouldn’t represent the “mere being” about the Orient， as Wallace Stevens has stated， but construct regular constellation of ideas about it. Those unchangeable ideas can be counted as formidable as a collection of lies for the mere “airy European fantasy”.

In the Chinese American theatrical circles， David Henry Hwang has undoubtedly been “among the quintessential American playwrights， period， of his time”. The enormous success of his representative work M. Butterfly made him earn a universal acclaim as the “most renowned Asian American dramatist of the twentieth century”. Gallimard in M. Butterfly thinks that as a Caucasian on the Oriental land he possesses a privilege and power to deserve his Butterfly even though he’s not good looking and brave. He gets to believe that he could do whatever he wants to manipulate this puppet， a subject without free thought or action. So after several dates with Song， he determines to carry out an experiment to test whether he has caught a Butterfly that could be left writhing in agony by piercing its heart with a needle. He refuses to have any contact with this little flower to let her wait painfully for his calls. He could hear voices from the bottom heart “I felt for the first time that rush of power―the absolute power of a man” （Hwang 1998： 28）. Song acknowledges that she could no longer hide behind dignity and has already given him her shame. Gallimard finally seizes the absolute power over his young lady.

Though the witting imitation of Pinkerton-like deeds is deemed to be obnoxious and rough which would incite every man’s itch to kick， very few would “pass up the opportunity to be Pinkerton”. The fantasy for an ideal Butterfly， as what V. G. Kiernan has ingeniously put， is “Europe’s collective day-dream of the Orient”. Other than Gallimard， the rest of Westerners in this play like Marc， one of Gallimard’s classmates in university， who has taught Gallimard how to flirt with woman and had sex with them on the arena of love also bears entrenched prejudice towards China and Chinese people. Their women fear us. And their men―their men hate us” （Hwang 1998： 24）. The consciousness of Western superiority has deeply rooted in every individual’s mind in the West and the reinforcement of the image of “the Other” has confined his or her judgment to extremes as the particular case of Madame Butterfly.

From the historical perspective we can best understand the formation of Western hegemonic ideology. The massive influence of colonialist history with its very emergence in the sixteenth century till now has never been erased from the mind of every human being. Britain and France， two greatest colonial networks， have held a vanguard position on the list of pioneer nations to set foot in the Orient. The primitive accumulation of capital relied on the naked plunderage， relentless killing， and iniquitous slave trade. To put it in a simpler way， the real purpose for the colonization was for gold， God and glory. They opened up the gateway of one country after another depending on their economic and military superiority and rapidly stepped on the other nations’ territory. The relative strength pattern in economic， political and military power has contributed to the formation of the West’s national consciousness and nourished a sense of Western superiority which makes the representation of otherness to become “representations as representations， not as ‘natural’ depictions of the Orient” （Said 1978： 21）

Reference：

[1]Hwang， David Henry. M. Butterfly [M].New York： Penguin Group， 1989

[2]Kerr， Douglas. [A]. “David Henry Hwang and the Revenge of Madame Butterfly” Asia Voice in English [C]. Ed. Chan Mimi and Harris Roy. Hong Kong：Hong Kong U.P. 1991

[3]Long， John Luther. Madame Butterfly[N]. The Century magazine， Vol. LV （Nov l897一Apr 1898）： 374-392

[4]Said， Edward W.. Orientalism [M].New York： A Division of Random House， 1979