Gallimard's M. Butterfly

Everyone has his or her own fantasy and dreams since all of us have something that we want to possess such as power, money, skill. However, we cannot always achieve our goals and expectation in our real life since it is impossible, so we probably will choose to do it in our fantasy, which is in our mind. In the play M. Butterfly, the author talks a love story, which based on Gallimard’s imagination. Gallimard wants to fall in love with a perfect woman who is submissive and delicate, and then he meets Song who is a smart spy that pretends as a woman deliberately. From a man’s view, Song knows what kinds of woman that Gallimard is interested in based on Gallimard’s stereotype to oriental woman, and Song can play the role as the perfect woman

However, the reason that they want to stay in the fantasy is because the truth is always opposite to their fantasy. Once they come back to the real life, they will find out everything is a mirage. One example is, Gallimard says “ I am a man who loves a woman created by a man.” (66) In this example, Gallimard knows that Song is a spy and he pretends as a woman in order to reach some secret information from him. Gallimard wants to love a perfect woman who is a submissive and passive, however, in fact, he loves a woman who is pretended by a man. Gallimard lives with Song for twenty years and he never observes that Song is a man. Although Song is a smart person and he knows how to cater to Gallimard’s tastes, the main reason that he could cheat Gallimard for such as long time is because Gallimard always prefers to overlook the truth painstakingly. All of those mistakes are based on Gallimard’s fantasy and the truth is opposite to the fantasy. Another example is Song says “ Butterfly! Butterfly!”(69) In the Madame Butterfly, after Cio-Cio-san committed suicide, Pinkerton also said “ Butterfly! Butterfly!” Pinkerton felt extremely guilty to Cio-Cio-san because he falls short of Cio-Cio-san’s affection. In the relationship between Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San, Pinkerton is the person who dominates Cio-Cio-San. However, after Gallimard find that Song is a man, it affects a complete role-reversal between Song and Gallimard. Song becomes the dominant male figure while Gallimard becomes the submissive feminine figure. As we all know the play Madame Butterfly is the initial reason that Song attracted Gallimard. However, Gallimard and Song are not noticed that they are metaphorically reenacting the play but with reversed gender roles, which means Gallimard becomes Butterfly and Song becomes as Pinkerton. Nevertheless, the audience knows