Austin Assignment On M. Butterfly

Scene in M. Butterfly, a play by Henry David Hwang.
Song Liling: I am slightly afraid of scandal.
Rene Gallimard: What are we doing that's scandalous?
Song Liling: I'm entertaining you in my parlor.
Rene Gallimard: Where I come from, that would hardly be construed as...
Song Liling: You come from France. France is a country living in the modern era, perhaps even ahead of it. China is a nation whose soul is firmly rooted 2000 years in the past. What I do - even pouring tea for you now - it has implications. Please go. Please, Monsieur Gallimard...

Austin might consider the sentence "Please go" as performative because "Song" is making a request by uttering these works (it similarly can be read "I ask you to go"). However, the question of is this happy is a difficult one to answer. Theatre poses a challenge for Austin because it violates the requirements of valid circumstances and sincerity. The speakers here are not speaking anything true for themselves: their names are not M. Gallimard and Song, they are not French or Chinese, they are not even in the true time (they are acting as if they are in the 1960-80's). At the same time, the actors embody their characters and set aside themselves, and people argue that a good actor truly becomes their character in a sense; thus the sincerity becomes true. So is the sentence happy or not?

Ironically, even in the context of the play the sentence is not happy because "Song" is actually a man though he has deceived M. Gallimard into believing he is a woman. Their entire relationship is filled with insincerity, deception, and false pretenses. In the example above, Song may not really want M. Gallimard to go because Gallimard is the crucial part of the hugest project/scam Song has ever endeavored. Thus, this performative is not happy.