Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 8 Madama Butterfly

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 There is a view, common among the young professional women I teach at the University of Chicago Law School, that vulnerability to deep pain is a weakness to be avoided, and that romantic love itself is weakness, if that is what it requires. (And of course, that is what it does require.) Women, the view goes, have too long been passive victims; we must take charge and reject that type of vulnerability. But this view is confused. It is certainly right for women to reject exploitation and victimization, and right again to notice that women have all too often been given no other choices. But strength and autonomy do not require the rejection of love The geisha Cio-Cio-San – also known as “Madama Butterfly” in Puccini’s opera – marries U. S. Navy Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton. He soon leaves for home in America. Cio-Cio-San gives birth to their child and, with her faithful maid Suzuki, confidently awaits his return to her in Japan. Three years later he does return, but only to take the child back with him. She yields to his demands, but in doing so, she chooses to end her own life. Cio-Cio-San is closely identified with Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, whose profound commitment to the character provides much food for thought regarding how one presents this role in today’s world. Below, she considers Cio- Cio-San’s origins and early hardships with a keen understanding of how both the character’s experiences and her culture shape the actions and choices we see onstage. I imagine that Cio-Cio-San’s parents thought they had no choice but to give her up to a geisha house. Is that life abusive? Not intentionally, but is it traumatic? Likely, due in great part to the abrupt transition when the girls, separated from their families, first arrived. It’s not as if the young women are welcomed with hugs and kisses. It’s “Scrub the floor, do this, do that” – discipline from the get-go. These young women learn survival mechanisms. But what do you do with that? If you’ve suffered abuse, traumatic experiences, the more interesting question is how do you survive it? How do you keep hope in your life? When Cio-Cio-San reads the inscription on her father’s dagger before she commits suicide – the dagger he used to kill himself – it says, “He who cannot live with honor must die with honor.” She lives within a corrupt system, but she just accepts it as it is. In her situation, you can’t waver; if she allows herself to doubt, the doubts will become reality. Suzuki wants to slap some sense into her, and her suitor Yamadori tries to make her see it – why else would he promise her wealth and shower her with gifts? Because he, too, knows Pinkerton isn’t coming back. Cio-Co-San will not see it. She has blinders on and is extremely with the depths of vulnerability and potential pain to which love often leads. Butterfly, in fact, is both strong and autonomous, within the confines of the path life has opened to her. She does not have to love; she might have been a successful professional by looking for the best offer. But she chooses love. Repeatedly people try to dissuade her, but she is stubborn and sticks to her choice. Puccini’s music for his heroine conveys this idea – the choice to love – indelibly. Cio-Cio-San’s famous second-act aria “Un bel dì” expresses utter exposure and unconditional devotion, which is a strong way of living, not a weak way. Through our sympathy with her story, we understand that she is the strong one and Pinkerton is the weak one, because she has unswerving devotion to an ideal, even when things are hard. And when she runs out of options, she chooses, deliberately, a heroic death, the death of honor her samurai father bequeathed to her. Her suicide aria has great dignity and weight, as well as expressing unconditional love for her child. As a mother, I find myself tempted to think that for a mother to abandon her child to others and choose suicide is weak. As Cio-Cio-San sees it, however, she is choosing an open future for her child in the culture and religion she has chosen, while leaving him the memory of a mother who was strong enough to die with honor. Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Her most recent books are The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis and The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble But Flawed Ideal . Kim Josephson (Sharpless) pleads with Suzuki (Guang Yang): Madama Butterfly at Lyric, 2003|04 season. Dan Rest By Ana María Martínez True to herself: Cio-Cio-San speaks