Nathalie Escobar
ENG102.0816
Ms. Bogacka
May 30, 2007
Everyone has their own saying to the play
In “Madame Butterfly” by David Henry Hwang, he portrays the differences of cultures
between the East and the West. The play was based on a true story between the lives of a French
diplomat that had an affair with a Chinese woman, who was a man and a spy for the Chinese
government. However, the play was not only based on culture differences but the debatable
romance affair between Gallimard, the French diplomat and Song, the Chinese woman in
disguised. Except, everyone has their own opinions on what they feel about the play and the way
it differs from the movie.
In the play, there were many differences between the East and the West. In the West,
people were more colonized and people already adapted to one modern culture, where as in the
East, people stayed to their old-fashion culture where technology was rarely needed. Therefore,
people from the West, such as Gallimard are more of the colonizers, that they could easily
modernize people’s certain culture. Gallimard believed the West was more powerful than of the
East, in which Asians from the East would submit themselves easily to Western men such as
himself. However, when Gallimard met Song, he was easily charmed that she was submissive,
but she had everything planned out for him. I thought that Song seemed like a strong character;
by the way she took the situation of being a spy for the Chinese government, and convincing
Gallimard in being a woman. Gallimard was living more of a fantasy life, and Song was living
reality where she was able to manipulate Gallimard easily. Gallimard thought Song was the
“Perfect Woman”— and one that might understand men’s feelings the best is men themselves.
Gallimard also felt that he became the center of attention— having Song as the “Perfect woman”
and having an affair with his wife, getting promoted, and etc. However, I felt that there was a
high sexism tension that happened during the play. When Gallimard stated that Asians are
submissive and they are more willing than of American women. He also wasn’t too fond of
women that were willing to throw themselves at him for sex and that were very dominant.
However, he was fine with girls from the magazine because he was able to control himself, but
he always compared money to women. As if money could buy anything, especially women such
as Song. Another example that I thought that had sexism was the court scene in Act III Scene I,
where Song described two rules about men. The first rule was about how “Men always believe
what they want to hear,” and the second rule was “Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes.” I
believed that it was sexism because not all men want to hear what they want; sometimes they
want to hear the woman’s point of view. Also, the second rule seems as if all women are easy to
get, and that’s what they always think. I feel that men also think that way, not only women.
What I believed that was very debatable was the fact of Song and Gallimard’s
relationship. Of course Gallimard had an affair with his wife twice, with Song and Renee. He
felt that Song was everything to him, but if he thought that way, he would have divorced his wife
and never slept with Renee. In the relationship of Song and Gallimard, I thought that Song was
really hiding her feelings towards Gallimard even if she might have been using him to get
information. I felt that they both had chemistry for each other throughout the poem. In the play
Song showed hints of the way she acted towards Gallimard as if she was deeply in love with
him. She only played the cruel side in order manipulate with his mind and getting the judge’s
answer.
In the play “Madame Butterfly” by David Henry Hwang, it was more interesting and I
had a better understanding of the characters than of the movie. The movie was too in general
and didn’t closely portray the characters, and had many missing parts of the play. I felt that Song
was too serious and wasn’t that much of a girly type that was described in the play. However,
the movie made me understand the play a little better and I really enjoyed both the play and the
movie.