Fefu and Her Friends

Stefany “Fefu” Beckmann is the protagonist of the play who hosts the gathering of women. Fefu’s eccentricities make some of the other women uncomfortable. She’s bright and independent and expresses her desire to be more masculine than feminine. Fefu shocks her guests by fixing her own plumbing and through her unconventional relationship with her husband. She leads academic discussions, arranges fundraisers, and clearly has a privileged social status. She exerts power and control over her friends and her marriage.

Fefu is also vulnerable in a way that she tries to keep a secret. She tells Emma that she suffers from emotional and spiritual pain. And as much as Fefu tries to assert masculine power and dominance, she still has very little control in her own marriage. The gun she shoots at her husband has blanks, and the danger of potential real bullets is under her husband’s control. Fefu confesses that she loves her husband desperately and knows that her unconventional behaviors have pushed him away. She demonstrates how women are beholden to social conventions and gender roles even if they try to refuse them.