Brown-Quigley 1

Isabella Brown-Quigley

Professor Holly Batty

English 102

13 October 2017

Challenging Tradition Through Gender Guises in M. Butterfly--Analysis

The stage in M. Butterfly by David Hwang is ripe with love and deception for Rene

Gallimard in the 1980s Paris. Gallimards gender identity and sexuality come into question

when he falls in love with a man. According to Judith Butler, the Gender/Queer theory states

that gender is performative and that there are not fixed identities that determine who we are as

individuals. There is a societal expectation that masculinity and femininity are solely based on

genitalia. Hwang breaks the binary mold with an effeminate male protagonist who becomes the

more masculine of two males in a relationship with a feminine male antagonist.

This play invokes traditional societal stereotypes about what it means to be a man. M.

Butterfly references to the Japanese opera, Madame Butterfly, which is about an Oriental woman

who fell in love with a Western man who abused her emotionally and eventually commits

suicide. Gallimard is exposed to Japanese opera and falls in love with a deceitful Chinese

actor/spy playing Butterfly. After a twenty-year relationship, the Chinese spy, Song, reveals that

he is a man. When Gallimard learns that Song is a man, he feels shame and dishonor. Gallimard

wears a traditional Japanese kimono and says, I am Rene Gallimard--also known as Madame

Butterfly, and kills himself with a knife in traditional fashion of a dishonored medieval Samurai

(Hwang 93). What occurred in the opera, Madame Butterfly, is analogous to Gallimard being the

butterfly who is deceived by a cruel man.

 Brown-Quigley 2

Most cultures expect males to only be dominant, strong, and powerful opposed to females

being frail, submissive, and shy. Hwang goes against the masculine-feminine binary. In Gender

Theory, there is a gender spectrum that goes from masculine to feminine. Contrary to this

theory, within the binary construct for biological men and women, there still exists a spectrum

for each biological gender, masculine and feminine, with feminine males and masculine females

being socially unaccepted. In one of Judith Butlers essays, she wrote, those who fail to do their

gender right are regularly punished (Butler 522). Societal expectations demand strict adherence

to males being masculine and females being feminine. Although biological gender is determined

in the womb, according to Judith Butler, gender identities and preferences develop throughout

ones life and may change throughout ones lifetime.

Gallimard is an effeminate male protagonist in M. Butterfly that defies the traditional

manly man gender norm. Compared to other men throughout his life, he has always been on

the feminine side of the male spectrum. In 1947 when Gallimard attended a university with his

friend Marc, Gallimard states, Marc, I cant Im afraid theyll say no--the girls. So I never

ask (Hwang 8). Men who are not direct or confident and who show fear are considered to be

feminine in many societies. Gallimard always looked up to his friend, Marc, because of his

masculinity and power. Hwang brings Marc into the play to compare two males that lay on

opposite sides of the male spectrum.

Song is on both sides of the male spectrum. He is acts as a feminine woman, yet contains

a masculine side. Even though Song is considered gender fluid, he demonstrates masculine and

feminine characteristics at once. He appears to be feminine compared to Gallimard, yet

masculine because of his power in the relationship. Song manipulates Gallimard in the same

manner that a stereotypical man would exploit a woman in order to gain information for the
 Brown-Quigley 3

Chinese. Throughout the play when he is with Gallimard, he is extremely feminine, however,

when Song addresses his comrade, Chin, he is masculine. Song acts masculine to show power in

front of Chin because he wants to make her feel inferior. Song asks Chin why she thinks men

play the roles of women in theater and before she could get much of an answer out, Song said,

No. Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act (Hwang 63). This quote

indicates that femininity was created by men for the pleasure of men. Men created the construct

delineating what is feminine and not, in order to have women submit to them. In Michelle

Balaevs literary criticism, she states, ...since there is no foundational or true difference

rooted in gender, one must perform gender (Balaev 609). A gender performance is when one

follows the social constructions and acts out the masculine or feminine stereotypes. This

demonstrates that gender labels are socially constructed and performance-based.

Rene Gallimard has an affair with his secretary, Rene, who is essentially another

juxtaposition of Gallimard. Hwang created Rene to show the contrast between a masculine

female and a feminine male, Gallimard. Rene is on the masculine side of the female spectrum

while Gallimard resides on the feminine side of the male spectrum. Gallimard questions, But is

it possible for a woman to be too uninhibited, too willing, so as to seem almost

too masculine? (Hwang 54). Rene appears to be too masculine for a female because she

has a sexual appetite on par with men. She also converses about taboo topics such as

penises. Gallimard says Rene is too masculine because he is intimidated by her outspokenness

and dominance, which conflicts with Gallimards power as a stereotypical man. He wants to be

the masculine one in the relationship and Rene challenges the idea that women are always the

submissive ones. Gallimard and Rene are of opposite sex and gender, which tends to be

socially unacceptable. According to Karen Shimakawa, the characters do not, however, merely
 Brown-Quigley 4

enact a role reversal: perhaps an even better word than "rearrangement" would be

"derangement," for identity is unstable and ultimately undeterminable in M. Butterfly

(Shimakawa). Shimakawa describes that when an identity is unstable that it is deranged. Her

perception on M. Butterfly is similar to many others in society that believe there is only

masculine and feminine. Although Shimakawa believes that gender is black and white, Hwang

sheds light onto the grey area by further blending Gallimard and Renes identities together

within the gender spectrum.

According to societal norms, masculinity encompasses characteristics such as strength,

confidence, logic, and freedom to do as a man pleases. Gallimard believed that the ideal man

was strong and cruel to women. In many cultures, women are viewed as being inferior to

men. Gallimard was constantly surrounded by men who treated women like objects. He thought

that in order to have power over women, a man has to be mean to them. I knew this little

flower was waiting for me to call, and, as I wickedly refused to do so, I felt for the first time that

rush of power--the absolute power of a man, Gallimard stated (Hwang 32). Gallimard always

wanted to be masculine like his friend Marc and he finally got the opportunity to do so with

Song. Song made Gallimard believe he was the dominant one in the relationship, when really,

Song had all the power. Masculinity is not always apparent at first glance.

In M. Butterfly, Hwang unveils gender faades between Gallimard and Song to crack the

masculine and feminine binary. Hwang depicts that gender labels are based on performance and

are not fixed identities through challenging traditional ideals and illuminating the different

spectrums. He portrayed what it means to be masculine, feminine, or both. Peoples gender

identities may vary throughout their life or can be different from their assigned biological

genders that are socially constructed with predetermined characteristics.

 Brown-Quigley 5

Works Cited

Baker, William. Domination and Performance: The Influences of Freud, Said, and Butler on
Hwangs M. Butterfly. Prized Writing UC Davis.
Http://prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/domination-and-performance-influences-freud-said-and-
butler-hwang%E2%80%99s-m-butterfly
Accessed 12 October 2017.

Balaev, Michelle. Performing Gender and Fictions of the Nation in David Hwangs
M. Butterfly. Forum for World Literature Studies, no. 4, 2014, p. 608. EBSCOhost.
library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr
&AN=edsgcl.398253065&site=eds-live
Accessed 14 October 2017.

Butler, Judith. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and
Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 519-531. The John
Hopkins University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207893?origin=JSTOR-pdf
Accessed 14 October 2017.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1990.

Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. Plume, 1988.

Shimakawa, Karen. Whos to say? or, making space for gender and ethnicity in M.
Butterfly.. Theatre Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, 1993, p. 349+. Literature Resource Center,
librarylavc.edu:2077/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=lavc_main&2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7C
A14617715&asid=d940716c7a6792244891486dd9394781.
Accessed 14 October 2017.