Brown-Quigley 1

Isabella Brown-Quigley

Professor Holly Batty

English 102

13 October 2017

Challenging Tradition Through Gender Guises in M. Butterfly

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

Gallimard in 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 is the more

masculine of two males in a relationship throughout most of the play, but who later is shown to

be more feminine compared to his counterpart cross-dressing wife, who is actually an

undercover masculine male.

Hwang breaks the binary mold with an effeminate male protagonist who courts and weds

a male cross-dresser. Throughout most of the story, the effeminate male, Gallimard, believes

that his wife is actually female, and during that time he feels masculine for the first time in his

life. It is revealed late in the story that the man who posed as a female was actually an

undercover government operative who is actually quite masculine. However, throughout most of

the play, Hwang shows that gender identities are not fixed nor binary, but rather exist on a

spectrum by showing that mens masculinity is relative to that of other men and their

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

Butterfly refers 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, although the gender roles are reversed.

Most cultures expect males to be dominant, strong, and powerful, as to females being

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

Theory, there is a single gender spectrum that ranges from masculine to feminine regardless of

chromosomes. 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. In other words, individuals are expected

based on their biology to conform to one side or the other of the gender spectrum. In our society,

women who behave masculine are maliciously labeled as being butch and men who behave

femininely are likewise given labels like fag and queer. Such labels are cruel and are often

accompanied by other mistreatment, including unequal rights, social discrimination, and physical

and emotional torment. Although none would argue that biological gender is determined by

genetics, according to Judith Butler, gender identities and preferences develop throughout ones

life and may change throughout ones lifetime. This is shown through Gallimards character,
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where he feels feminine his whole life compared to other men until he falls in love with Song,

who makes him feel masculine for the first time. This illustrates the relativity of gender

identities on the male spectrum because he feels feminine and masculine depending on the

circumstances and relationships, which makeup the lens through which he sees and defines

himself.

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 gender 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 juxtapose two males that lay on

opposite sides of the gender spectrum.

Song is on both sides of the gender spectrum. He acts as a feminine woman while

undercover, yet contains a masculine side hidden throughout most of the play. Even though

Song is considered gender-fluid, he demonstrates masculine and feminine characteristics

simultaneously. He is feminine compared to Gallimard based on appearance, yet masculine

because of his power in the relationship. Song upholds a position of power in the duo by

manipulating Gallimard for secretive information. Song conformed back to the masculine

stereotype at the end of the play. He was an undercover spy and once his mission was over, he

reverted back to appearing masculine.

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

when he addresses his comrade, Chin, Song is masculine. Song acts masculine to show power in
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front of Chin to make her feel inferior because she is a woman. 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

interrupted, 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 conform to

their desires. 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 to which they are expected to conform. 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 gender spectrum

while Gallimard resides on the feminine side. 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. Typically, women are expected to hide sexual appetite to maintain the illusion of

purity and innocence that society expects. 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 supposed to

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

socially unacceptable. Hwang sheds light onto the in-between area by further blending
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Gallimard and Renes identities together within the gender spectrum. According to Karen

Shimakawa, the characters do not, however, merely 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 explains that when an identity is

unstable, it is deranged. Without placing judgment, she points out that identities in M.

Butterfly are not stable because they fluctuate within the gender spectrum. Shimakawa and

Hwang display gender-fluidity. Gender-fluidity is when one feels both masculine and feminine.

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

confidence, logic, and freedom to do as one who is masculine 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

and chattel. 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 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. People want to hide their true selves under a

mask because they do not want to be ostracized for whom they really are, which is why gender is

not always apparent or static.

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

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

and are not fixed identities by challenging traditional ideals and illuminating the gender

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

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identities may vary throughout their lives and can differ from their predetermined designation by

social constructs based on biology.

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%A1

4617715&asid=d940716c7a6792244891486dd9394781.
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Accessed 14 October 2017.