Essays on M Butterfly

Even in today’s increasingly diverse world of theatre and the arts, finding high-quality and accurate representation of minorities and people of color can be incredibly difficult. The struggles of Asian-Americans, in particular, can be innately difficult to translate accurately to the stage, as they are given a disproportionately small voice in the American arts. However, artists like playwright David Henry Hwang have made tremendous strides in advocating for the voices of Asian-Americans to be heard in the world of theatre, his works (including M. Butterfly, Chinglish and Yellow Face) demonstrating the unique difficulties they have in fighting for ...

Introduction

Wide Sargasso Sea was written in 1966 novel by Dominica born renowned writer Jean Rhys. This post-colonial parallel novel has put the author in the limelight being her most successful novel. This novel is a premonition of charlottes Bronte’s novel of Jane Eyre 1847 novel. This is a revelation of a relationship that casts a patriarchal society in which she is neither a black nor a white European with her European white boyfriend. This is a sour and unhappy marriage, which makes her appear demonic or devilish woman. The novel shortly tries to analyze the main themes of racial inequality and harshness of displacement and ...

My Final Writing Reflection

The biggest challenges that I had are arranging ideas to create clear and easy to read essays. On my essay, “Relationship Between Shadow Puppetries and Religions in Different Cultures,” it was hard for me to follow and understand the instructions. I was also having difficulty following basic instructions in formatting. On my essay, “New Prospective View of The Struggle of Naga Tribe with Social, Political, Cultural and Economic Issues,” it is evident that I still had a problem following proper formatting. Nevertheless, I tried my best to minimize my formatting errors. I also come to realize, when I was writing ...

Analyzing how the themes of racism, sexism, and imperialism are evident in the play M Butterfly, by Henry David Hwang.

M. Butterfly is a play that captures the story of Gallimard, a French diplomat and his affair with Chinese woman, Liling Song. The “woman” later turns out to be man and a spy. The main themes in the play are Eastern duplicity and Western imperialism. The climax of the play happens when Gallimard is seduced by Song. The play places a lot of focus on racism, imperialism and sexism and the prejudicial feelings of the West and East (1:3). The play by Henry captures the interconnectedness between sexism and imperialism. Drawing from postmodern aesthetics, the usage of dramatic shape, stage, pictures and ...

In his play M. Butterfly, David Henry Hwang presents traditional gender and cultural stereotypes of male dominance, female submission, Caucasian power, and Asian mysteriousness. The character Rene Gallimard displays typically male characteristics of strength and control when he deliberately delays contact with the character Song. He and other Caucasian characters are in positions of power within their government, and emphasize their perceived strength over Asian countries. The character Song appears to submit completely to Gallimard’s requests, frequently emphasizing traditionally female characteristics of passivity and modesty. Song also maintains a sense of mystery by refusing to unclothe herself. Ultimately, in ...