Why does Cio-Cio-San agree to marry Pinkerton?

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Madama Butterfly Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, 1908.

Cio-Cio-San agrees to marry Pinkerton because she is deeply in love and views the union with profound sincerity. Having faced financial hardship after her family’s prosperity declined, she turned to working as a geisha to support herself and her mother.1

Her commitment to the marriage is absolute; she demonstrates her devotion by secretly visiting a Christian mission to convert to her husband’s religion so that she may pray to the same god as he. She expresses that for Pinkerton, she is willing to renounce her family entirely. While Pinkerton views the marriage as a temporary, flexible arrangement, Cio-Cio-San enters the union with total emotional surrender, believing she is answering the call of love.1