Chris has a master's degree in history and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado.
When most people hear about Madame Butterfly, they often think about Puccini's famous opera that premiered in 1904. However, Puccini didn't write this story. The stage play was written by American playwright David Belasco.
Belasco based his play on ''Madame Butterfly,'' a short story written in 1898 by the American lawyer and author John Luther Long. This story itself was based loosely on an 1887 novel by French naval officer and author Pierre Loti, entitled Madame Chrysanthème.
Long's story, consisting of 15 short chapters, follows a young Japanese geisha who marries an American naval officer and is caught between clashing cultures. Japan, fiercely isolationist for centuries, had only opened to the Western world in the 1850s. Americans were fascinated by Japan and the perceived exoticness of Japanese culture. The short story became widely popular, and demonstrates an intriguing look into Japanese and American interactions at the turn of the century.
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Before we get into the plot, let's get to know the major characters of ''Madame Butterfly.''
''Madame Butterfly'' begins with American naval officer Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton at the dock in Nagasaki, having just arrived. His friend, Sayre, suggests that he get a Japanese wife, which Pinkerton at first rejects. Soon, however, Pinkerton has found a geisha for a wife and supplies her with a house and a maid.
Cho-Cho-San, Pinkerton's wife, attempts to understand her new husband and his American ways. Her family had unanimously supported the marriage, but Pinkerton distrusts them and forbids them from seeing Cho-Cho-San. As a result, she is disowned. That's a big deal, as being disowned means she can no longer be guided into the afterlife by her ancestors. Without ancestors, Cho-Cho-San feels lost but eventually falls in love with Pinkerton. He becomes her reason for living.
Pinkerton leaves when his ship sets sail, leaving Cho-Cho-San and her maid Suzuki alone. In this time, Cho-Cho-San gives birth to her and Pinkerton's baby, a boy with both Euro-American and Japanese features. In the Japanese tradition, she gives him a temporary name until Pinkerton returns: Trouble. Later, she decides that his permanent name will be Joy.
Cho-Cho-San is still in love with Pinkerton and is convinced he will return. She keeps up the house, adopts Pinkerton's American mannerisms and etiquette when addressing her maid, and even insists that her infant son only babble in English. However, the marriage broker Goro comes to tell her that American men often leave behind Japanese wives and never return. At best, Pinkerton will return for the son and take Trouble back to America without Cho-Cho-San.
Goro's solution is that Cho-Cho-San allows him to arrange a meeting with an eligible Japanese prince, Yamadori. Cho-Cho-San reluctantly agrees and meets with Yamadori. Yamadori is smitten with Cho-Cho-San and promises her palaces, but she doesn't reciprocate. Yamadori tells Cho-Cho-San that American sailors don't take marriages like hers seriously and that her child may end up destitute in an American orphanage. Furious, Cho-Cho-San has Suzuki kick Yamadori and the marriage broker out of the house.
Still, Cho-Cho-San has become worried, and asks about Pinkerton with the American consul, Mr. Sharpless. She eventually asks Sharpless to tell Pinkerton that she will marry Yamadori and take their son, in an attempt to convince Pinkerton to come back to Japan. Sharpless has become very sympathetic to Cho-Cho-San, but is uncomfortable with the lie. Cho-Cho-San spends much of her time obsessing over her appearance and beauty.
After weeks, Cho-Cho-San sees Pinkerton's ship in the harbor. Cho-Cho-San takes her son and hides behind a screen to surprise Pinkerton. However, he never arrives. Later, she sees him on a passenger ship with a blonde woman on his arm. Cho-Cho-San goes to Mr. Sharpless, who feels bad for her and lies, saying that Pinkerton was coming to see her but was called away on a mission to China.
Just then, the blonde woman from the ship enters the consulate and asks that this message be delivered to her husband, Pinkerton: ''Just saw the baby and his nurse. Can't we have him at once? He is lovely. Shall see the mother about it tomorrow. Was not at home when I was there today. Expect to join you Wednesday week per Kioto Maru. May I bring him along? Adelaide.''
Adelaide sees Cho-Cho-San in the consulate, but doesn't know who she is and calls her a pretty ''plaything.'' Cho-Cho-San decides to commit suicide using her father's sword, the only thing she was allowed to keep when her family disowned her. Cho-Cho-San begins the ritual, but hesitates. Suzuki secretly places Trouble on the floor and pinches him so he'll cry, and Cho-Cho-San goes to him while Suzuki bandages the wound from the attempted suicide. The story ends by saying that, when Mrs. Pinkerton arrived the next day, the house was empty.
''Madame Butterfly'' is an interesting look into American-Japanese relations in the late 19th century. On one hand, it was written for an American audience and plays up the exoticness of Japan that Westerns had come to fantasize about. This is particularly true of the geisha, as Cho-Cho-San is constantly described by her incredible beauty and devotion.
On the other hand, this story is presented from Cho-Cho-San's perspective, and isn't very sympathetic to Pinkerton. Cho-Cho-San and Suzuki are given at least a degree of depth as they navigate both Japanese and American cultures.
Still, Pinkerton's presence is a shadow that hangs over everything. Even in his absence he dominates the narrative and Cho-Cho-San's life. After all, she spends her time obsessing over him and his culture, all while rejecting offers to marry Japanese princes, an act that would likely reverse her disownment.
This navigation of culture is perhaps one of the greatest themes of ''Madame Butterfly.'' Cho-Cho-San marries an American and is rejected by her Japanese family, losing her ties to her ancestors. Her house is depicted as being made to look American but being Japanese in structure.
While Suzuki almost always defers to Japanese etiquette and politeness in uncomfortable situations, Cho-Cho-San adopts her husband's brash Western mannerisms. She also learns about Christianity, deciding she can wait until the moment of death to convert to see if her ancestors will return to her first.
Even Cho-Cho-San's suicide reveals how she has become caught between cultures. Long writes that her Japanese culture had taught her to die (as her father's sword says: ''To die with Honor, When one can no longer live with Honor''), and to not fear death. However, her marriage to Pinkerton had taught her to see life as sweet and precious, which is why she hesitates after beginning the suicide ritual. By the end, Cho-Cho-San has become caught between cultures.
All right, let's take a moment or two to review. As we learned, ''Madame Butterfly'' is a short story written by American lawyer and author John Luther Long in 1898. In the story, the eponymous Madame Butterfly, or Cho-Cho-San, marries an American sailor but is abandoned by him. This results in her attempted suicide.
The story was published at a time when Americans were fascinated by Japan, and it helped paint the image of the decadent, beautiful, and devoted geisha. Overall, the story examines the consequences and challenges of living between cultures. It can also be seen, however, as a romantic drama that fulfills Western fantasies about Japanese culture as a strange and otherworldly place.
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