Madame Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

M Butterfly

Creating Honor in M. Butterfly

Gallimard's statement early on in Hwang's M. Butterfly that he is always seeking a new ending in which "she" comes back to him, and in which he can find honor, does not initially seem to be fulfilled by his actions in the final scene, at least not on the surface. Left alone and disgraced in his cell, having loved a man he thought to be a woman for twenty years and finding a much deeper betrayal, that his lover had been using him to spy on his country's actions, Gallimard kills himself. Suicide is not an end associated with honor in the Western tradition, and thus a surface examination of the final scene in the play seems to suggest that Gallimard has failed on all counts: he has not succeeded in bringing his lover back, he does not really bring about a "new" ending, and the end does not contain any honor from the dominant perspective of his society. M. Butterfly is a play about transformation, allegory, and symbolism, however, where life works in the same way as literature and theatre -- where life is theatre, in fact, full of artifice and illusion that is meant to bring about real emotion and real connections, and to provoke real thought. Seen in this light, and in the context of the opera Madame Butterfly that serves as a specific and explicit symbol and analogy of Gallimard's life, this protagonist manages to invoke the presence of his lover and achieve a certain level of honor in his death.

It is perhaps overly simplistic to say that suicide is seen as honorable in many societies, and especially in many Asian societies, but this basic fact is of immense importance in properly understanding the ending and the impact of M. Butterfly. It is not an effort to somehow escape from his problems that drives Gamillard to his fatal action, nor is it shame at the fact that he was fooled and used for so long, but rather it is due to his persistent love for Song and the acceptance of the fact that he cannot have her/him, and that he cannot be complete in this life. Rather than an avoidance of problems, suicide in this light is a confrontation of the problems faced, and a means of taking control where control does not otherwise exist. In this way, Gamillard is making the most active, productive, and honorable choice he can make, accepting the fact that his lover is permanently gone and thus accepting the ultimate emptiness of his remaining years, and rather than remain this essentially empty vessel he simply gives the vessel up. It is undoubtedly a result of the power and depth of his love for Song that suicide presents itself as the primary if not the only viable option, but it is not simply out of pain for the failed nature of this love but rather a recognition of the pointless nature of the pain and of continued existence -- his death can be beautiful, but his continued life would be nothing but misery.