M. Butterfly: The Power of Oriental Women Streotypes
“Because a man knows how a woman supposed to act”
(Act 2, Scene 7)
The quotation above makes me wonder about the men’s power upon women. Is it really men who have the absolute power to women? From the previous quotation, it is obvious that it is men who have control of women. They are the ones who understand how women should do or act. In short, they are the ones who dominate woman. This play, “M. Butterfly”, written by David Henry Hwang, an Asian-American playwright, portrays the power and superiority between men and women. This play has Orientalism background in it. This Orientalism makes the sense of East and West stereotypes vividly occur in this play. Rene Galimard, one of the main characters, is the symbol of the Western man himself. He is a Frenchmen, a diplomat or a leader of people, and he analogizes him self as Pinkerton, a character in the adopted play,Madama Butterfly by Giociamo Puccini, who left his Japanese woman in desertion. In contrast, the interesting part of Hwang’s version is that Gallimard who is ‘used’ by Song Liling, the Chinese spy disguising actress who is analogized as Butterfly, to get advantages from him. He is not as conquering as Pinkterton to Butterfly. This switch also deconstructed the stereotypes of oriental women as weak people. Oriental women stereotypes become power to conquer western men.
According to the Beginning Postcolonialism by John McLeod, “Orientalism is Western fantasy” is one of the shapes of Orientalism. It is said that the orient are not based on the actual observation in Oriental land, yet it is something fabricated construct. It comes from Western men’s dreams, assumptions, or fantasies. Orient is generally described as the one who serve the Western for their superiority. It also happens to oriental women value. It occurs in the text, “It’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man.” (Act 1, Scene 10). They tend to think that oriental women are submissive and sexually sensual. There are some lines in the play which show that. “I saw Pinkerton and Butterfly, and what she would say if he were unfaithful…nothing.”(Act 2, Scene 6). This indicates that oriental women are submissive. They even don’t show their displeasure when they feel so. The sexually sensual fantasy upon orient girls is shown when Marc has a conversation with Gallimard about the party in act 1, scene 4:
Marc: Of course you don’t! you never know…They stripped, Rene!
Gallimard: Who stripped?
Marc: The girls! (Act 1, Scene 4)
They keep believing with their fantasy about oriental women until they take that stereotypes as if as it is the truth. “It is true what they say about Oriental girl. They want to be treated bad!” (Scene 3, Act 1). This is what they believe that Oriental women are weak and feminine. Unfortunately, as they earnestly believe, it makes them failed to see that probably there is something behind those oriental women’s feminine attitudes. They always imagine things from their own spectacles. That is why Song Liling can deceive Gallimard. They forgot that their fantasy-based stereotypes upon Oriental women mislead them.
The fantasy of Oriental women is supposed to create the image of “perfect women” in the Western men’s mind. They long for woman who has the grace, the delicacy, the beauty, and the willing attitude. The “perfect woman” is imagined as Butterfly. “Its heroine, Cio-Cio-San, also known as the Butterfly, is a feminine ideal, beautiful and brave” (Act 1, Scene3). It is occurred in some of the lines in the play. “She has the grace, the delicacy….” (Act 1, Scene 6) and “Unlike a western woman, she didn’t confront me, threaten, even pout” (Act 2, Scene 6). However, the idea of “perfect woman” becomes the strategy to mesmerize and weaken the Western men. As in the play, Song knows that to win the man means to win his heart. Song deliberately creates the image of “perfect women” as just as Gallimard would like it.
Song: Please….it all frightens me. I’m a modest Chinese girl.
Gallimard: My poor little treasure (Act 1, Scene 13)
“Please. Hard as I try to be modern, to speak like a man, to hold Western woman’s strong face up my own…in the end, I fail. A small, frightened heart beats too quickly and gives me away. Monsiour Gallimard, I’m a Chinese girl.” (Act 1, Scene 10)
She intentionally feminine her self based on the oriental women stereotypes. As a result, Gallimard falls for her. The falls turns into the enslaved position for Gallimard. “And it worked! He gave in! Now, if I can just present him with baby. A Chinese baby with blonde hair—he’ll be mine for life!” (Act 2, Scene 7). Song definitely realizes that being delicate is the way to conquer men. “All he wants is for her to submit. Once woman submits, a man is always ready to become ‘generous’” (Act 2, Scene 7). Gallimard eventually gives the American info to her because he thinks that she is not that harmful. For being a “perfect woman”, Song gets what she has aimed for.
All and all, Western men’s stereotypes unconsciously weaken their own domination. It is because their fantasy of the image of Oriental women misleads them. They fail to see that probably there is something behind that feminine image. In this play, the Oriental woman deliberately forms the image of the “perfect women” in order to get her purpose. Moreover, she succeeds. The feminine images of oriental women can be the weapon to control the Western men’s domination.
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