A Study Of Subjects’ Plight In David Henry Hwang’s M.Butterfly

As the prominent Chinese-American playwright in contemporary American theater,David Henry Hwang is most known for his outstanding creation of M.Butterfly which brings him numerous awards and marks him the first Asian-American playwright to win Tony Award.Since it was published in 1988,M.Butterfly,a collection of gender,culture,race and politics,has evoked heated studies worldwide.So far,scholars have studied this work from various perspectives such as gender performance,Orientalism,deconstructionism,post-colonialism and so on.However,the perspective of Foucault’s philosophy of subject has been employed by few to study M.Butterfly,which accounts for the topic selection of this thesis.According to Foucault,the philosophy of subject is an ethical philosophy concerning individual existence;individuals under the influence from historical knowledge and power relations tend to constrain their true self by the external normalization in respects of power,sexuality and ethics.In this way,they constitute standardized subjects in case of being marginalized but forget who they really are.As a result,they will easily fall into the plight where the standardized subject confronts the true self.Thereby,Foucault advocates that individuals live aesthetically as who they really are by taking care of the true self and resisting the subjectivation external normalization causes.Based on the theory,this thesis attempts to explore Foucault’s aesthetics of existence in M.Butterfly.First,it begins with how the historical knowledge and power relations Gallimard and Song learn separately in their backgrounds cause the constitution of their standardized subjects.Then,it analyzes how they manage to be the standardized subject by internalizing the external normalization in their sexual relationship,during which they fall into the plight where subject is in conflict with their true self.Lastly,the different endings of two protagonists are discussed in details.Gallimard,conceited and stubborn,ends up his life while Song,intelligent and flexible,chooses to come back to his true self.Through such a creative ending,Hwang makes a powerful response to the issues of how to deal with gender,identity and the relationship between east and west.Based on the analysis above,the thesis concludes that the historical knowledge and ubiquitous power relations are significant forces to constitute individuals’ standardized subject,exerting an immense impact on individuals’ dealing with the relationship between the subject and the true self.Ultimately it leads individuals to the plight where the subject has conflict with the true self.But only through self-reflection and bold resistance,can individuals keep a balance between the subject and the true self and walk out of the dilemma.