M. Butterfly

             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's 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 he'd line up pornographic magazines, hearing voices about what he'd do with the women and, " his body shook... not with lust, but power" (Hwang 1214). Now he'd 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 kille...

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M. Butterfly. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:54, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/77747.html