Comparing Twelfth Night And David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly

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A part of the human normality is seeking the approval of others amongst us. Whether it be in the way we dress, our day to day lifestyle, and even those who we choose to spend the remainder of our lives with. In response as humans, it is also typical for us to judge those around us based on our individual opinion. Most of the time when people fail to hold similar beliefs to their own, we find it to be unordinary and “wrong”. In both William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly, both plays include characters who don’t follow the heteronormative expectations and therefore are judged for it by others. In the Twelfth Night, Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario to work for Duke Orsino whereas, in M. Butterfly, …show more content…

Butterfly introduces characters that also cross-dress in order to reach their particular goal. Song, similar to Viola from Twelfth Night, is a man disguised as a woman. Song manages to convince Gallimard that he is a woman for over eight years. Again this proves that Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and that nobody is born with a particular gender. According to Judith "We act and walk and speak and talk in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman." Song was able to act and adapt to how women are expected to act and wear what women typically wear. His performance was extremely believable and convincing “Song: I’m an actor. /Chin: Yeah. (Beat) Is that how come you dress like that? /Song: Like what, Miss Chin? /Chin: Like that dress! You’re wearing a dress. And every time I come here, you’re wearing a dress. Is that because you’re an actor? Or what? /Song: It’s a . . . disguise, Miss Chin… It helps me in my assignment.” (Hwang, 2.4) However, it is later speculated that Song disguised as a woman not only to complete his mission as a spy but also to be in a relationship with a man. Song did, in fact, have feeling for Gallimard, however, do to the circumstances and generation it was not looked at as unordinary and wrong for same sexual

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