Mr. Faust is from a German legend where he sells his sole to the devil in exchange for years of prosperity. However, he had a wife, Mrs. Faust, that had to endure this transition with him. Carol Ann Duffy wrote a poem, Mrs Faust, that described their life through Mrs. Faust’s eyes. Despite the stereotypical agreement that Mr. Faust is the greedy cold one of their relationship, after considering their story from Mrs. Faust’s point of view it is clear that she is just as greedy and cold as Mr. Faust, if not more. What this suggests is that materialism is not just a masculine fault, but can also seep into women’s characters as well. 

From the start it is clear that the tone of is very “matter of fact” and unemotional with her first line starting with “First things first-” (Duffy 1). The structure is also very fragmented with many uses of commas, dashes and short lines which builds on this “matter of fact” tone that Mrs. Faust is displaying. Mrs. Faust also expresses a lot of control that connects to her cold and emotional detachment from Mr. Faust in her wording, often putting herself before him in many lines of the poem, “I married Faust.” (Duffy 2), “Hers. His” (Duffy 8). This indifference can also be seen in her very quick description of their relationship “We met as students, shacked up, split up,/ made up, hitched up,/ got a mortgage on a house” (Duffy 3-5), showing that all of this didn’t mean much to her, further verifying her lack of emotion given this expression of detachment.

It is interesting, as well, that she isn’t afraid to admit she is just as bad as Faust. She announces, “Faust’s face/ was clever, greedy, slightly mad. I was as bad” (Duffy 15-17). Her willingness to admit that she is greedy, and that she fundamentally doesn’t care, shows that she isn’t looking to really change. This greediness is further shown in the poem as she delves into their unapologetic love for materialistic things. This usually insinuates greediness and a certain emotional detachment, by connecting this to the common idea of “money can’t buy happiness” it shows that they aren’t really looking for that emotional happiness. Instead they act like cold and heartless materialistic obsessed people. 

This idea of not needing internal satisfaction with each other is woven throughout the poem in a way that shows they do not love one another. Mrs. Faust states that she grew to love the lifestyle she was in, but not the life (with Faust) (Duffy 10-11). She goes further to explain that Faust loves the idea of having a wife, but does not love his wife. This is a really bizarre take on what a marriage should be, and given that neither of them seem to care signifies their mutual unemotional callousness. It says a lot about a person when they are willing to agree to spend their life with someone, but don’t actually love that person, it’s clearly just for the image.

It is also important to realize that as Mrs. Faust goes on to state how her husband was growing more and more powerful she was not that impressed, still expressing this in the same “matter of fact” tone. It seems that she is just simply mildly content with some of the perks that come from this situation. As Mrs. Faust describes the worldly adventures she is now able to go on it is also still stated with the tone of indifference, instilling a “been there, done that” attitude towards an extraordinary lifestyle. This further demonstrates the selfish and greedy aspects of her persona.

Finally, Mrs. Faust doesn’t seem to even care when Mr. Faust is taken by the devil. Instead, simply giving a quick little description of this insane experience of the devil erupting from their floor and dragging Faust straight to hell. Then, of course, quickly transitioning to all the material things that he left her “…dragging him, oddly smirking, there and then/ straight down to Hell./ Oh, well. Faust’s will/ left everything-…the lot-/ to me” (Duffy 112-120). This is the epitome of Mrs. Faust’s emotionless greed. There wasn’t an ounce of emotion or despair, she is simply, yet again, mildly content of the material benefits she gets to reap from this experience. She goes on to reveal that she is slightly impressed of Faust’s secret, that he didn’t even have a soul to sell. “I keep Faust’s secret still-/ the clever, cunning callous bastard/ didn’t have a soul to sell” (Duffy 126-128). This provokes the thought though, that given all the parallels Mrs. Faust drew between her and Mr. Faust she is the same soulless individual as him. 

This is a profound thought Duffy toys with in Mrs Faust, the idea that women have no excuses for their greed that is usually associated with their masculine partners. In the case of Mrs. Faust, she isn’t afraid to point out that she, too, is greedy, but definitely points the finger stronger at her husband than she does at herself. Which, in the case of this story is intriguing, given that she ended up with all the riches. This is an important part of gender roles in society. As the age of feminism booms, women have to be okay with some of the less attractive aspects that come with opening up the door of gender equality.    
