MADAMA BUTTERFLY
SYNOPSIS
(The underlined words in the synopsis are listed in the glossary.)
ACT I
Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton, of the United States Navy, is
about to contract a "Japanese 
Marriage"
with Cho-Cho-San, known among her friends as Butterfly. When
the curtain rises he is being shown around the little house
on the hill, which he has leased at Nagasaki and is about
to occupy with Butterfly. Goro, the marriage broker who has
arranged the match, has also found Pinkerton the house and
is enjoying Pinkerton's surprise and pleasure at the ingenious
contrivances of the building. Pinkerton is then introduced
to the three Japanese servants, one of whom is Suzuki, Butterfly's
faithful maid. His friend Sharpless, the American Consul,
arrives, and the two men settle down to a friendly chat. Sharpless
looks upon Pinkerton's projected alliance with disfavor, and
begs him to reflect before taking the step. He cautions that
what is a mere pastime to Pinkerton may be a very serious
matter--a matter of life or death--to the Japanese girl. Pinkerton
laughs at his friend's apprehensions, and their discussion
is interrupted by the arrival of the bride and her friends.
Greetings are exchanged; Sharpless takes the opportunity to
talk to Butterfly and is more than ever convinced that she
is taking her marriage very seriously. That his misgivings
are not groundless is soon proven, for in a private talk with
Pinkerton, Butterfly confides to him that she has, secretly
and quite unknown to her relations, renounced her faith, the
faith of her forefathers, before entering into her new life
with him; a step which means cutting herself adrift from all
her old associations and belongings, and entrusting her future
entirely to her husband.
The relations arrive, together with the Japanese officials,
and the marriage contract is signed with due ceremony. While
the guests are joyfully drinking to the newly-wedded pair's
health, a weird figure suddenly appears on the scene, shouting
and cursing wildly. It is Butterfly's uncle, the Bonze (Japanese
priest), who has discovered her renunciation of faith and
has come to curse her for it. He insists on all her relations,
including her mother, renouncing her forever whereupon Pinkerton,
annoyed at the disturbance, turns the whole lot out of his
house, and they depart, yelling at her as they go. Butterfly
is left weeping bitterly, and Pinkerton proceeds to comfort
his poor little Japanese wife. He soon woos her back to smiles
and happiness, and a passionate love scene follows. And so
we leave this romantic couple on the threshold of their life
together.
Three years have passed. Pinkerton has long
since been recalled to America, promising his little wife to
return to her "when the robin builds his nest." The
curtain rises on a sadder and wiser Suzuki, praying against
all conviction for Pinkerton's return, and on a faithful, ever-trusting,
never-doubting Butterfly. She declines to listen to Suzuki's
misgivings: "Oh, you are lacking in faith!" she says,
and in most touching language she draws a vivid picture of Pinkerton's
speedy return: "And this will happen, I promise you. Keep
your fears; with unalterable faith I shall wait for him."
Butterfly is interrupted by a visit from the
Consul Sharpless, who has been entrusted by Pinkerton with a
very cruel task, namely, to break to Butterfly the news that
he is returning to Nagasaki, but that Pinkerton is now married--really
married this time!--to an American wife. Sharpless is unable
to deliver his message. The very sight of a letter from Pinkerton
throws Butterfly into such a transport of excitement and joy
that she is unable to listen to its contents. He has written,
he has remembered her, and of course he must be returning! Then
they are disturbed by a visit from Yamadori, a wealthy Japanese
suitor, whom Goro is urging Butterfly to marry. She tells them
she is married ("My
troth is
plighted
already."). And when Goro and Sharpless, appalled at her
blindness, suggest that Pinkerton's desertion of her constitutes
divorce, she proudly tells them: "The Japanese law... not
that of my coun-try now." It is a hopeless task to try
and undeceive a faith such as hers. After Yamadori has taken
his departure, Sharpless makes one more attempt to open her
eyes to the truth, but she silences him once and for all by
fetching her young son, a blue-eyed, fair-haired replica of
Pinkerton. "But you will write him that a son without equal
is waiting for him here!" she says, with maternal pride.
"And then you'll see if he doesn't come hurrying over the
land and sea!" And the poor Consul reluctantly takes his
leave without having achieved his mission.
He
has hardly gone before the harbor cannons announce the arrival
of a man-of-war. Their eyes dim with happy tears, their hands
shaking with excitement so that they can hardly hold the telescope,
Butterfly and Suzuki discover it is Pinkerton's ship, the Abraham
Lincoln! Now Butterfly's transports know no bounds. She has
proven herself right! Her faith is rewarded! Her husband is
returning to her! She and Suzuki fill the little home with flowers.
Suzuki and the child drop off to sleep. The curtain falls on
the pathetic picture of Butterfly, rigid and motionless, waiting
and watching in unshaken faith for the return of the husband
who has forsaken her.
A humming
chorus follows.
The weary night has passed, and the breaking
dawn discovers Suzuki and the child fast asleep while Butterfly
still stands waiting, watching. The sunshine awakens Suzuki,
who persuades Butterfly to go and rest, promising to call her
as soon as Pinkerton arrives. Hardly has Butterfly gone up with
her son than Pinkerton and Sharpless appear on the scene. Suzuki's
joyful surprise is soon changed to consternation when she finds
that Pinkerton is accompanied by a strange lady--his wife! Pinkerton,
surrounded by proof of Butterfly's unbroken faith and devotion,
now at last realizes the truth of the Consul's warnings and
the heartlessness of his own conduct. Overcome by remorse and
anguish at the situation, he rushes away, leaving Sharpless
to arrange things as best he can. The Consul has hard work to
pacify Suzuki. At last he persuades her to break the news to
her poor little mistress and to try and induce her to give up
her young son to Mrs. Pinkerton, who will bestow a mother's
care on it. Before Suzuki has time to prevent her, Butterfly
comes down, radiantly expecting to find her husband, and in
a scene, the pathos of which cannot well be surpassed, she learns
the terrible truth. She bears the blow with a gentle dignity
more touching than any lamentation. She even wishes his American
wife every happiness, and sends Pinkerton a message that he
shall have his son if he will come himself and fetch him in
half an hour's time. And then Sharpless and Mrs. Pinkerton withdraw
and leave the poor young woman alone with her broken heart.
But when, in half an hour's time, Pinkerton
and Sharpless return to keep their appointment, the faithful
little broken heart has ceased to beat. Butterfly has killed
herself with her father's knife, the blade of which bears the
inscription: "He dies with honor who cannot live with honor."
