Erika Castillo

ENL 3
Professor Hogue
June 2, 2019
The Tragedy of a Butterfly
Analysis on Power and Control (Part I)
Considering the character of M. Butterfly is portrayed as a vulnerable individual in the

opera by Giacomo Puccini, one would expect Song, who plays M. Butterfly, to have less power

than the protagonist Gallimard. Nonetheless, Song uses Gallimard’s weakness to be in control of

the situation and extract classified information from him. Gallimard’s weakness consists on

meeting a subservient and modest woman who is willing to sacrifice their life for a Western man.

He becomes so infatuated with this “vision” that he cannot distinguish reality from fantasy. In

Gallimard’s monologue in Act 3 Scene 3, he finally comes to terms that his life with Song has

been a lie and that death is better than living with “The devastating knowledge, that underneath it

all, the object of [Song’s] love was nothing more, nothing less, than… a man” (863). This scene

is a depiction of how someone can easily have control over someone else’s life by giving in to

their desires and fantasies. It also illustrates Gallimard not being able to control his desires, and

upon acknowledging he “fell in love” with an unworthy man, he is willing to sacrifice his life

due to his mistake of falling for a man.

Additionally, Gallimard knows he has not found his Butterfly, but he believes that living

implies living a shameful life. He dies dressed as Madame Butterfly (with the Kimono, makeup,

etc) because he wants to have the satisfaction that he stayed true to his dream even though it left

him powerless. The irony at the end of Act 3 Scene 3 is representative of his admittance that in

his search of a Perfect Woman, he ended up becoming the submissive woman: “My name is
Rene Gallimard- also known as Madame Butterfly” (864). In retrospect, Song has been

Pinkerton in disguise and seems to be the one who controlled Gallimard’s life for the past twenty

years and not the other way around. In the end, Song asserts his control over Gallimard by

looking down upon him as a sign of disapproval of the stereotypes Westerner’s attribute to Asian

women.

Butterflies Everywhere (Part II)

The scene could end with Gallimard collapsing into the arms of Song instead of the

Dancers to symbolize he fell into “Oriental” arms instead of Western arms. This can make the

play even more tragic because this means the protagonist is even further away from achieving his

twisted vision. After Gallimard falls into Song’s arms, he carefully lays him on the floor to

demonstrate he is frail like an actual butterfly, and thus he is left powerless. Song is dressed in a

black tailored suit as a clarification to everyone that the character he played (M. Butterfly) is

gone. He takes out a blindfold from his pocket and ties it around Gallimard’s head. The blindfold

represents how Gallimard’s “Love [for his vision] wrapped [his] judgment, blinded [his] eyes,

rearranged the very lines of [his] face…” (863). The blindfold can either represent that or his

inability to admit publicly he had an affair with a man. He knows Song is a man, but if he

accepted that in public, he would have had to surrender the realization of his fantasy. And to

clarify Song’s emotions in the scene of Gallimard’s death, he pronounces “Butterfly? Butterfly?”

in a gloating way with an arched eyebrow to reiterate his unsatisfaction with Gallimard’s vision

of a Perfect Woman (863). The fact that Song expresses an emotion is important in

understanding who he is as a person and not as an actor/spy.

As for the background, there are black butterflies flying around the prison cell as a sign

of not only misfortune for Gallimard, but also a sign for Song to embrace all changes that are
coming in his life. The lighting is dim except for a bright light focused on Gallimard and then on

Song. It focuses on Gallimard because that lays emphasis on his death, and secondly the lights

shift towards Song in order to show who has power over who in the end. Furthermore, the walls

are dark gray to equate the tragic ending. The only colorful aspect is the protagonist’s kimono

and his facial makeup. This is done to give the effect he is the center of attention and therefore

subject to scrutiny from the public. After Song lights up a cigarette, “the smoke filters up through

the light” and he looks up at the black butterflies and walks away with the lights getting dimmer

(864). To conclude, the butterflies flying around provide a level of assurance that things will not

be the same as they were for twenty years for Song. The lighting of the cigarette provides a

finale to the main story, and the black butterflies serve as a reminder that one can change the

direction of their life only if they are open to new beginnings.