Analysis Of The Butterfly By David Henry Hwang

Love in M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang, is a fantasy. Fantasy, as defined by Teresa De Lauretis, is a â€Å"primary psychic activity, a creative activity that animates the imagination and produces imaginary scenes or scenarios in which the subject is protagonist†(4). Rene Gallimard and his wife Helga are the primary protagonists in their fantasies of love. Gallimard is a French diplomat who gives into his love for the Chinese opera singer, Song Liling. The relationships in this play exemplify a kind of love that focuses on temporary happiness, despite the reality of a character’s situation. Both Gallimard and Helga are aware of their realities and attempt to create a love life to compensate for their own lackluster lives. Helga admits to being aware of her reality but like Gallimard is content with a wretched love no matter how false it is. Gallimard and Helga in M. Butterfly create layered fantasies of their heteronormative love life as a way of escaping their diss atisfying reality but they never experience true love. The layering of M. Butterfly gives insight into the layering of fantasies which Gallimard goes through. For instance, an opera is a fantasy within itself, providing for the audience an idealized view of a story. Teresa De Lauretis says in her work on fantasies that â€Å"Popular culture forms have the effect of something deeply felt and experienced, and yet they are fictional representations. [†¦] They perform, at the societal level and in the public sphere, aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of M. Butterfly By David Henry Hwang1772 Words   |  8 Pagesalong Western and Eastern lines, and we expect the nation-states to act accordingly. David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly, describes the scenario through one of his characters, Song Liling, as â€Å"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† (Hwang 1988). Hwang lays out this relationship between the East and West as a relationship between man andRead MoreAnalysis Of M. Butterfly By David Henry Hwang Essay1677 Words   |  7 Pages M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang, focuses and explores on this central theme of sexism towards women in most cultures. Sexism refers to the prejudice, discrimination, or stereotyping of an individual on the basis of their sex. Throughout M. Butterfly, sexism is illustrated through the actions of the protagonist, Rene Gallimard. Aside from this, sexism is also illustrated in most of the conversations that the characters in the play exchange. David Henry Hwang explores the different stereotypesRead More Feminism in M. Butterfly Essay2722 Words   |  11 PagesFeminism in M. Butterfly In the 1989 drama M. Butterfly, the masterwork of contemporary American playwright David Henry Hwang, the topic of sexual politics underlies all other themes, and creates a tension between the genders that pervades throughout the text; moreover, Hwang subverts traditional thematic aspects of sexual politics by questioning the most fundamental unit of sex by considering the very nature of gender and what defines a male or a female. These elements unite and develop a