Orientalism in"M.Butterfly"

任艷

摘 要：As a master text of Orientalism， 'Madame Butterfly' confirms the Asian woman's perpetual sexual availability for the Western male even as her convenient demise delimits such liaisons. Orientalism arose as a study， but its underlying racism developed in response to fear - principally the fear of the East's potential， which is a very real threat to the power of the West. Orientalism， although for readers of social science， is easy reading. Anyone unfamiliar with Orientalism will easily be introduced to it and in no time grasp the argument.

關鍵詞：Orientalism westerner Eastern people rape mentality Butterfly

Orientalism is "a manner of regularized （or orientalized） writing， vision， and study， dominated by imperatives， perspectives， and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient." It is the image of the 'Orient' expressed as an entire system of thought and scholarship. The first Orientalists' were 19th century scholars who translated the writings of 'the Orient' into English， based on the assumption that a truly effective colonial conquest required knowledge of the conquered peoples. This idea of knowledge as power is present throughout Said's critique. By knowing the Orient， the West came to own it. The Orient became the studied， the seen， the observed， the object； Orientalist scholars were the students， the seers， the observers， and the subject. The Orient was passive； the West was active.

The play M. Butterfly， by David Hwang is a study in human weakness， psychosis， and insecurity. The lead character in the play， Rene Gallimard acts the same as a borderline schizophrenic. When the story begins he is in prison reflecting on his life， and loves. He is given to fantasy， and talking， or having conversations with the figments of his imagination. His insecurities， combined with his vivid fantasies， drive him to power trips， where he is master of his world. Dominance is his desire， where he is in total control. These illusions take him further and further from reality. Where he is weak and ineffectual， he starves for acceptance and attention. This is a story of a man who gets into a situation that perpetuates his illness. If theres worse condition for a person with a mental illness， it would stretch the imagination to contrive it.

When he is sent to the Orient he becomes a person of power， as all westerners did at the time. “The West has a rape mentality towards the East” （Hwang 1253）. The cultures are so different and conflicting， that values greatly vary. The Western culture looks on the Eastern people as， “feminine-weak， delicate， poor” （Hwang 1253）.endprint

In the play M. Butterfly， by David Henry Hwang， the author uses the title as the primary metaphor， but he convolutes the play by having too many themes working around it which can distort the reaction of the audience. The tenor is the butterfly and the vehicle is the M， now the problem with this is that the tenor and the vehicle imply too many things， making it far too abstract to make a clear description of reality. The interaction between the vehicle and the tenor yields nothing except confusion to an audience that is simply stimulated by the superficial layers of the play. Looking at the metaphor M. Butterfly， one is able to extract a vast spectrum of ideas which Hwang suggests， for example： East vs. West， man vs. woman， sexuality， power relations， race， gender， class， stereotypes， fantasy… etcetera. Now， from a mathematical point of view the metaphor has many variables in the equation. The essence of masculinity implies something that one needs to fight with others to ensure it. It is also the thing that each of the East and the West claims to be its legitimate agent.

M. Butterfly deals with the thin line between fantasy and deception. Starting at a fairly young age and lasting at least until death， everyone fantasizes situations based on their sexual preferences. Some of these dreams are absolutely unattainable， while many have a possibility but often you need a better calculator than the 8 digit I have beside me for all the zeros before the 1. These kinds of fantasies are more or less about keeping yourself occupied. Basically "good" and "bad" depends on how you use them and how seriously you take them， if they are fun or a bad obsession. M. Butterfly reverses Giovanni Puccini's 1904 adaptation of David Belasco in order to analyze the psychosexual drama underlying the enigmatic twenty-year affair between Bernard Boursicot， They can make you happy or drive you to accomplish something， but they can also make you long to escape the real world or drive you crazy because the physical world can't satisfy you like the one you've created in your head. Though it is only a dream， Gallimard's criterion for the "Perfect Woman" creates a very real wall between himself and Song， which eventually grows so ingrained that it cannot be breached. Monsieur Butterfly does not refer to Song， but to Gallimard. "Madame Butterfly" does not exist； the only Butterflies are the men who fool themselves into loving a product of their own imaginations.

Bibliography

[1] Hwang， David Henry. M. Butterfly. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan， Susan X Day， and Robert Funk. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River， NJ： Prentice， 1999.

[2] Kondo， Dorinne K. “M. Butterfly： Orientalism， Gender， and a Critique of Essentialist Identity.” Cultural Critique Fall （1990）： 5-29.

[3] Hwang's own characterization， "Afterword，" M. Butterfly， 95.

[4] Bhabha， Homi. "Of Mimicry and Man： The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse" October 28 （Spring 1984）： 125-33.

[5] Case， Sue-Ellen. "Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry Abelove， New York. 1993.endprint