The Theme of Seduction in "Madame Butterfly"

Paper Summary:

This paper focuses on the theme of seduction in the play "Madame Butterfly." The writer concentrates on the complicated relationship between Gallimard and Song. The author indicates that while it appears to be the story of a man being tricked by a woman, it later becomes known that Song is actually a man trying to save himself from the new Chinese communist government. The paper concludes by highlighting how the themes of seduction could be accentuated in a production of the play, through the set, lighting and music.

From the Paper:

"In the play the character Gallimard, is seduced by both Song and by his own idea of Song. The seduction of Gallimard is a seduction perpetrated by his own stereotyped ideal of what an Asian woman is and can be for a white man mainly, submissive and by his actual seduction by Song the actor. In the very beginning of the interaction between Gallimard and Song there is the hint of a deception. Song laughs at him when he tells her that she made a convincing butterfly. "Convincing as a Japanese Women," she says. (Hwang, 1988 17) Yet, Gallimard must have given her some real indication that he believed that she was a woman, or she was just desperate to win the favor of someone who could give her the information that she needed to save herself".

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