From Speciman To Natural Butterfly

Madame Butterfly, made world-known by Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, is a classical Western construction of Asia. Produced in the prime of Orientalism, the discourse that nourishes the generation of this stereotype, the tale of Madame Butterfly, is portrayed subversively in postmodern playwright, David Henry Hwang's 1988 play M. Butterfly.The formulation of this Western stereotype of an Asian woman as Madame Butterfly, examined in the light of Orientalism, unearths the double misrepresentations in this symbol of"perfect femininity": the East distorted by the West and women misunderstood by men, and the figure of Madame Butterfly dominates Western understanding of Asia even today. This thesis attempts to indicate that both the West and the East should break formulary thinking and understand each other in intercultural communication, and to clear cultural stereotype with dialectic and rational thinking. This paper discusses the negative influence of Madame Butterfly caused by cultural stereotype and insists that gender role is constructed by society, thus in China women are equal to men, as the East is equal to the West.Besides the introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of three main chapters. Chapter Two focuses on the cause of the formation of the stereotype"Madame Butterfly", and the misrepresentation of Asian women displayed by it. Chapter Three concentrates on the motivation of the creation of M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, and analyses his deconstruction of"Madame Butterfly". Chapter Four mainly talks about changing status of women in Asia, especially in China.Through a cultural study of both Madame Butterfly and M. Butterfly, the author of this thesis concludes that to reach a healthy and fruitful relationship in the age of globalization, it is necessary for its participants from different nations to see each other as individual human beings instead of clinging to any cultural stereotype; and a successful intercultural communication is rooted in mutual understanding and mutual respect of its participants.