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Madame Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini’s celebrated 1904 opera, tells the story of a disastrous marriage between a beautiful, vulnerable Japanese woman named Cio-Cio-San —also called Butterfly —and a callow American sailor named Benjamin Pinkerton. Madame Butterfly is Gallimard’s favorite opera, not only because he finds the tragic story profoundly compelling, but because the opera is inextricably intertwined with his relationship with Song. He sees Song for the first time playing the role of Cio-Cio-San, calls her by the pet name “Butterfly,” and speaks to her in their most intimate moments using lines from the opera. Madame Butterfly becomes a shared language for Song and Gallimard. Song understands that Cio-Cio-San’s gentleness and devotion to her husband represents a feminine ideal to Gallimard, and the two of them build their relationship around a mutual commitment to that ideal. However, as the narrative progresses and it becomes increasingly clear that the relationship between Song and Gallimard is founded on self-serving lies rather than sincere love, the centrality of the opera to their story becomes less romantic and more tragic. Like Madame Butterfly, the relationship Gallimard cherishes is only a story — it does not reflect reality. That he continues to return to the language and imagery of the opera regardless of this fact reveals Gallimard’s enduring commitment to the fantasy he and Song have constructed together.
Madame Butterfly Quotes in M. Butterfly
The M. Butterfly quotes below all refer to the symbol of Madame Butterfly. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1, Scene 5
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But as she glides past him, beautiful, laughing softly behind her fan, don’t we who are men sigh with hope? We, who are not handsome, not brave, nor powerful, yet somehow believe, like Pinkerton, that we deserve a Butterfly.
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Act 1, Scene 6
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It’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? the submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man … Consider it this way: what would you say if a blonde homecoming queen feel in love with a short Japanese businessman? He treats her cruelly, then goes home for three years, during which time she prays to his picture and turns down marriage from a young Kennedy. Then, when she learns he has remarried, she kills herself. Now, I believe you would consider this girl to be a deranged idiot, correct? But because it’s an Oriental who kills herself for a Westerner — ah! — you find it beautiful.
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Act 1, Scene 13
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Are you my Butterfly?
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Act 2, Scene 7
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Miss Chin? Why, in the Peking Opera, are women’s roles played by men? … Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act.
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Act 3, Scene 3
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I have a vision. Of the Orient. That, deep within its almond eyes, there are still women. Women willing to sacrifice themselves for the love of a man. Even a man whose love is completely without worth.
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The love of a Butterfly can withstand many things — unfaithfulness, loss, even abandonment. But how can it face the one sin that implies all others? The devastating knowledge that, underneath it all, the object of her love was nothing more, nothing less than … a man.
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My name is Rene Gallimard — also known as Madame Butterfly.
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Get the entire M. Butterfly LitChart as a printable PDF.
Madame Butterfly Symbol Timeline in M. Butterfly
The timeline below shows where the symbol Madame Butterfly appears in M. Butterfly. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
...are replaced by European music: the famous “Love Duet” from Giacomo Puccini’s celebrated 1904 opera, Madame Butterfly . Gallimard approaches Song, who dances on and does not notice him. He says two...
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Act 1, Scene 3
...they cannot understand his story until they understand the story of his favorite opera: Puccini’s Madame Butterfly . He introduces the heroine of the opera, a Japanese woman named Cio-Cio-San, who also...
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Act 1, Scene 5
...— at the home of the German ambassador in Peking, singing the death scene from Madame Butterfly .
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Act 1, Scene 6
...still dressed in the wedding costume from the previous scene, sings the death scene from Madame Butterfly — rather than playing the character, she now plays herself, an actress performing for Western...
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...himself trying to answer Song’s accusatory comment, Song asks him to imagine his reaction if Madame Butterfly were about a “blonde homecoming queen” who falls in love with a “short Japanese businessman.”...
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Song tells Gallimard she will never perform Madame Butterfly again. She suggests that if he wants to see “real theatre,” he should attend a...
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Act 1, Scene 7
Helga says she is sorry to have missed Madame Butterfly that night, and expresses her appreciation for Puccini’s music. Gallimard tells her the Chinese hate...
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Act 1, Scene 11
...Opera, and refrained from calling Song or writing to her. He recalls an image from Madame Butterfly , in which Cio-Cio-San worries that a white man who catches a butterfly will pierce...
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Act 2, Scene 1
Gallimard, in his cell again, reads from a review of Madame Butterfly . The reviewer writes that Pinkerton is obnoxious and deserves to be kicked, then adds...
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Act 2, Scene 8
...makes a few critical, but lighthearted, comments about the child’s looks. Song quotes lines from Madame Butterfly : “What baby, I wonder, was ever born in Japan … With azure eyes …...
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Act 2, Scene 11
Song appears onstage, wearing the wedding kimono from Madame Butterfly . Gallimard notices her, but is convinced for a moment that she is an illusion....
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