M Butterflyyy

Gender, nationality, and race/ethnicity are only a few of the many themes in David Henry Hwang’s M Butterfly. Rene Gallimard is in a relationship with a Chinese actress, Song. It is thought “The West thinks of itself as masculine—big guns, big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique" (Act 3, Scene 1, p.83). However, in this case, Song seems to be submissive to Rene, but in reality she is controlling Rene and giving him the feeling that he is the one with the power in the relationship, while Song manipulates Rene in order to receive information about the west that she can then give back to China. Having Rene “fall” for Song is an easy task because of the ignorance of both the western and eastern cultures. Whether you are from the east or west, there are prejudices that are set on females, males, races, etc. By the end of the novel, after Rene is in love with Song, she is revealed to be a male that dresses up as a female to deceive Rene. This shows that there are common points between western and eastern culture. Universally, it is thought that females are weaker and submissive. In a scene, Rene tries to undress Song, yet she stops him saying that she is a “modest Chinese girl” (40). This instance of weakness and passiveness adds to the prejudice that Rene has already. Song is also a male, so he can use this to his advantage as well. Song knows how females act around men, so he can mimic their actions and seemingly pass off as a female. Song uses this prejudice and knowledge of females to capture Rene’s heart. With this as evidence, M Butterfly displays the ignorance of the western culture that is supposedly the strong side of the world and highlights the deception but also the strength of the eastern culture in getting what they need.