Female Characters

"Picasso: Germaine, men want, and women are wanted. That's the way it is, and that's the way it will always be." This quote seems to ring true on the surface of the play. Every female character in the play seem to be in positions where they are the object of a man's desire. Germaine is Freddy's wife; Suzanne is the pretty girl waiting to be pursued by Picasso; the Countess is Einstein's date; the female admirer has one line and is basically a groupie. Suzanne spends the first part of the play waiting for Picasso, and talking about him to the rest of the bar. She explains how she was wooed by him, despite her lack of interest at first. Then later on in the play, after he doesn't recognize her and she gets upset, he easily woos her again. This demonstrates how naive and easy to manipulate she is, and the power that Picasso has over her. The only power she is shown to have is sexual power, in that she is portrayed as attractive and sexual and very little else. She allows Gaston to watch her as she changes, and he exclaims that everything he is wearing must be lucky. Beyond her, there is the Countess, who is portrayed as intelligent and beautiful, and Einstein explains that she thinks like he does. However, when she enters, the only response to her intelligence is Einstein exclaiming "God, she's sexy!" This clearly shows that while the purpose of Einstein's genius is to discover and learn, the Countess' intelligence serves only to be attractive to Einstein. The only woman who comes close to being a full character is Germaine, and she is still mostly an extension or reflection of the male characters. She explains how she was using Picasso just as he was using her, and she explains how she projects her fantasies on the men she pursues. While she is not easily manipulated or there only to be attractive to a male character, she still only seems to exist in relation to the men in the story.