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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 there were 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). Gallimard is beside himself with the possibilities, so different from his homeland where he has been voted, least likely to be invited to a party (Hwang 1214).
Now he is someone by virtue of his heritage. Quickly his imaginings become possibilities, where before hed line up pornographic magazines, hearing voices about what hed do with the women and, his body shook not with lust, but power (Hwang 1214). Now he would make those desires become real. At the time and in their culture, Chinese women are considered less than a man.
In the East, life is much cheaper than in the West. Women are considered so insignificant in China that even today, female children are sometimes killed at birth only because of their gender. The thought that women were almost worthless in China appealed to him greatly, he could make them grovel at his feet, and no one was there to say he was depraved, or just a weak little man. Heady potentials for a warped individual like Gallimard. To a man such as Gallimard, who has limited sexual and social experience, the Chinese concubine is necessary, with no consequence. He can control a woman like never before, be totally dominating.
Women often frightened him. His first sexual experience where he was terrified by the domination of a woman scarred him for life. It helped develop his aversion to strong women / people . In describing the encounter to his friend Gallimard says, She screamed and was breaking branches (Hwang 1230). His biggest worry was getting hurt by her. It made him question his own sexuality and masculinity.
His friends liked sex like that, why did it frighten him so? Gallimard is so insecure that he subscribes to groupthink (Anderson 125). What his peers think is what he thinks also, be it right or wrong. He needs to fit in and win their acceptance. Adding to his turmoil is a letter from Song, his fantasy girl. In it, he reads the implication of being, a eunuch or homosexual (Hwang 1230).
The stage has been set for his breakdown. In his sick mind to prove himself not a homosexual, he needs to dominate this person Song. To prove his control over his life, and to show what a real man is like. After they start to build a relationship, he ignores her.
This is the start of his experiment in domination. When he thinks he has broken her spirit, he says, She was turning on my needle (Hwang 1230). It gives him power only, to abuse it cruelly (Hwang 1230). Song is the ultimate version of his magazine girls. Having her weak, subservient, and bowing to him actually makes him her slave. Ironically in this case showing weakness is Songs absolute power over the demented Gallimard.
No one notices, or mentions this, Anderson offers an explanation, mental illness can be seen as merely an eccentricity in the elite, and goes untreated (Cody). When Gallimard thinks, I finally gained power over a beautiful woman (Hwang 1231). He is actually starting to lose himself. This is where the mental hooks are planted in Gallimard.
He will now do anything for the company of Song. He is quickly developing a stalker mentality, needing her acceptance, her companionship. Not only is he obsessed with Song, in so far as he has make-believe conversations and dances with her (Hwang 1214). However, he worships the images of them together. The question comes up over Andover in the story about whether or not he knew Song was a man.
That point is not important. He is totally obsessed with being together with Song even though he does know. He admits as much when he says, I have long since faced the truth (Hwang 1257). What is striking is his spiral into madness.
He has always been an odd duck, but at this point, he is tittering on the edge where insanity is only a stumble away. He feels, touched in the head (Hwang 1252). Moreover, he is showing it. Contrary to popular belief, a person who is delusional to the psychotic level can be quite aware of it (Shimakawa). When confronted with Song and undressing him / her he folds on himself with the pressure. Song tells him, Come strip me (Hwang 1242).
In a challenging way, Gallimard, knowing this would end the illusion, and worse their relationship, declines. In fact, he drops to his knees, so I was crawling towards her like a worm (Hwang 1242). He was literally begging things to remain the same.
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