The Cycle of the Butterfly: The Gender Condition within Hwang’s M.Butterfly

Abstract

M. Butterfly re-tells a true story of a love affair gone wrong.  The prominent Frenchman is deceived by the cross dressing Chinese spy for over twenty years.  Gallimard is the ‘un-masculine’ man who becomes uber masculine when presented to the Chinese ‘flower’.  Hwang presents this story as a means of exposing the truths about the masculine condition, which can never be fulfilled because of its many definitions semantically and culturally. Through the lenses of Masculine and Gender theory, this paper looks to analyze the creation of gender roles within the play, which in turn leads to Gallimard’s demise.  Gallimard’s attempt to become the ultimate masculine, powerful man only leads him to become a feminine butterfly.