Everything you need to understand or teach
M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang.
Products may contain comprehensive summaries, analysis, notes, articles, essays,
lesson plans and more. See below for details on what is included.
In his monograph David Henry Hwang (1989) Douglas Street insists that Hwang is "clearly a writer of the American West," even though Hwang's Westis far removed from that traditionally brought to mind b...
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David Henry Hwang is one of the most successful and prolific American dramatists at the end of the twentieth century. He challenges his audiences' notions of gender, race, and ethnicity and suggests t...
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In the following essay, Hwang discusses the inspiration for M. Butterfly, explains the process the play underwent in production, and expresses his hope that people will look beyond stereotypes to unco...
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In the following essay, Haedicke claims that M. Butterfly has changed many of her feminist ideas and opened her eyes to subjugation in roles that are not necessarily male/female, yet still carry the t...
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In the following essay, Pao evaluates the positive and negative criticism Hwang's M. Butterfly has received. Pao contends that many of the negative reviews came from critics who were not recept...
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In the following essay, Remen uses Michel Foucault's theories of prisons and punishment to explore key themes of power and consequences in M. Butterfly.
It's an enchanted space I occupy....
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In the following essay, Eng studies the homosexual relationship between Gallimard and Song in M. Butterfly. Eng equates Gallimard's cell with the metaphorical“closet” and analyzes...
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In the following essay, Hawthorne uncovers the layers of sexual ambiguity and imperialist manifestations in Hwang's M. Butterfly and draws correlations between the play and the novel Monsieur V...
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In the following excerpt, Shin argues that in M. Butterfly Hwang explores the restrictive nature of heterosexuality in both white and Asian cultures.
It has been barely thirty years since the inceptio...
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In the following essay, Moy examines the playwrights' intent to denounce common Asian stereotypes in Hwang's M. Butterfly and FOB and Philip Kan Gotanda's Yankee Dawg You Die. Moy...
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In the following essay, Cooperman asserts that, while M. Butterfly highlights the disparities in East-West cultures, his earlier plays—FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, Family Devotions, The Hou...
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In the following excerpt, King applauds the Broadway staging of M. Butterfly and deems Hwang's playwriting intelligent and reflective.
David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly is deliberately se...
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In the following essay, Moy compares representations of Asian characters in M. Butterfly to those in Yankee Dawg You Die, by Philip Kan Gotanda, arguing that while both playwrights attack stereotypica...
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In the following essay, Cheng examines the intersection of fantasy and representations of the racialized body in M. Butterfly and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man.
Why does race have such a ...
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In the following essay, Pao provides an introductory overview of M. Butterfly, including information about its critical reception, its historical context, and its major themes.
Publication and Product...
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In the following essay, Shin argues that M. Butterfly and Golden Gate both function as powerful critiques of traditional Western notions of masculinity.
It has been barely thirty years since the incep...
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In the following essay, Kerr compares the representation of Asian characters in M. Butterfly and Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. Kerr argues that the opera aligns the audience's sympat...
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In the following essay, Martin compares the discourses of gender, nationality, and colonialism within Hwang's M. Butterfly with the novel and film adaptation Reflections in a Golden Eye, by Car...
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In the following essay, Garber examines the role of cross-dressing in Hwang's M. Butterfly as a deconstruction of dominant categories of gender.
A former French diplomat and a Chinese opera sin...
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In the following essay, Chang analyzes the trope of “cross-cultural dressing” in M. Butterfly in terms of the discourses of feminist politics, postcolonial studies, and deconstructivist ...
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In the following essay, Remen draws on Michel Foucault's theories of vision and power to examine the staging of the central characters and the discursive positioning of the audience in Hwang&#x...
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In the following essay, Kehde argues that M. Butterfly functions as a powerful critique of imperialism by exposing the underlying gender-based structure of imperialistic thinking.
By the time of his d...
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In the following essay, Morris argues that M. Butterfly ultimately reaffirms and reinstates the hierarchical power structures of gender and culture that it sets out to deconstruct.
Settings
When the c...
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In the following essay, Lye examines the portrayals of gender, race, nationality, geopolitics, and power within M. Butterfly, and discusses the variety of critical interpretations the play has garnere...
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One of the most notable features of M. Butterfly is its interesting uses of tone, in particular Hwang's feelings about the main character (and the change these feelings seem to undergo), and Hwang's ...
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Teaching M. Butterfly
All teaching products sold separately.
M. Butterfly Lesson Plans contain 130 pages of teaching material, including:
David Henry Hwang
Critical Essay by David Henry Hwang
Tone in M. Butterfly
