Abstract

M.Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang, mainly tells the story that Gallimard falls love with a Chinese spy, Song Liling, who actually is a man. The secret has been kept for nearly 20 years. And both of them are trapped in their complex psychological condition. Song has got entangled by his love for Gallimard and the racial hatred to the west while Gallimard is defeated by the conflict between illusion and reality and eventually commits suicide. This thesis aims to analyze two protagonists’ tragedy from the psychological perspective and further explore its social roots by demonstrating something about American society of that time. It also explains the colonialism and orientalism in a new way through the whole tragedy.

Key words: M.Butterfly, trap, love and hatred, psychiological, conflicts, illusion and reality, social roots, colonialism and orientalism
 
摘要

黄哲伦的《蝴蝶君》讲述了一个法国外交官与一名中国男间谍保持亲密关系长达20年之久。两位主角都陷入自身复杂的心理困境不能自拔。宋丽玲纠缠于对伽利马的真爱与对西方的种族之恨中，而伽利马则面临着关于蝴蝶夫人的幻想与宋丽玲男儿身的现实之间的冲突，最终被击败选择了自杀。本论文旨在从两位主角自身的心理角度来分析他们的悲剧，并进一步从美国当时的社会背景深入探讨该悲剧的社会根源。本论文也通过分析整个悲剧的发生全新阐释了殖民主义和东方主义。

关键词：蝴蝶君；困住；爱与恨；心理；冲突；幻想与现实；社会根源；殖民主义和东方主义

1.    Introduction
David Henry Hwang is an Asian-American dramatist who has been the one with the highest reputation so far. He tries various dramatic forms and among these, the most significant work is M.Butterfly(1988). As a work from a Chinese American dramatist, it is a smash hit at the box office and also wins a Tony Award, becoming the mark of Chinese American drama. Since then, Chinese American dramatist squeezed their way at the stage of American mainstream drama, being a gorgeous wonder.
M.Butterfly is adapted from the news about a France spy trial on New York Times. In the case, a French diplomat fell in love with a Chinese ‘woman’ for nearly twenty years, not knowing she was not only a spy but also a man. Based on this, Hwang meditates an interesting play which calls for deep thought. In Beijing, after watching Madame Butterfly performed by Song Liling, an Opera actor, Gallimard is immediately attracted by the beautiful voice and mistakenly treats Song as a woman. Song, in Gallimard’s eyes, is just like the compliant and loyal madam in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. During the Vietnam War, Song successively collects lots of intelligence from Gallimard. Arrested by the French government on suspicion of espionage at last, Gallimard still don’t believe Song is a male until ‘she’ shows her naked body. Dressed up with Madame Butterfly’s clothes, he commits suicide when the story comes to the end.