The objectification of women remains a common occurrence. Women survive in a society with high standards. Criticized with every imperfection, constantly taught to strive for excellence. Women go to great lengths to change their physical appearance in order to reach these standards. Every woman struggles with body image criteria. Carol Ann Duffy reaches out to readers trying to challenge the irrationally high ideals. Duffy tests the gender relationships that so often show men as authority figures and women as their objects. Treating them as a lesser human. She uses her poetry to show readers the flaws in these ideologies of women and their physical appearance. Showing the direct impact if objectification on a women’s life, and how that women, Mrs Faust, lives her life because of it. Consequently, a lot of the objectification she speaks on comes from material wealth. With the access to money influenced Mrs Faust to alter her body in order to please the man in her life. Mrs Faust constantly tries to improve herself for her husband and nobody else. Duffy uses these descriptions of Mrs Faust’s body and her relationship with her husband to show how lifestyles built on material wealth objectify women. 

Duffy depicts Faust with a God-like presence, causing Mrs Faust to live her life as someone’s object. Duffy states, “Faust was Cardinal, Pope, / knew more than God”(Duffy 54-55). However, nobody should know more than God. Duffy uses this description to demonstrate Faust’s power and influence.  Faust masterfully manipulates and controls the people around him. With this devilish forte, Faust controls the art of tricking people. This god-like complex has given Faust the supremacy, convincing Mrs Faust she is a material object, not a human being. This influence held by Faust creates a large lack of attachment in his relationship with his wife. When Faust began cheating Mrs Faust “felt, not jealousy, /but the chronic irritation” (Duffy 24-25).  Faust’s indiscretion and betrayal did not upset Mrs Faust.  This reaction comes with the lack of attachment. Faust saw her as a used object that did not have much value anymore. However, Mrs Faust had grown just a bad as her husband: “Faust’s face/ was clever, greedy, slightly mad. /I was as bad” (Duffy 16-18). Faust did not act greedy, clever or mad; it was rather just a part of him, as if it were natural. Duffy combines Faust’s characteristics with his body making them equal in value. Duffy continues by saying that Mrs Faust is just as bad as Faust. Not treating her as an equal furthers Faust’s objectification of Mrs Faust. She now has surrendered to the role of an object in Faust life, amplifying the problem. The acceptance of her role allows for Duffy’s readers to also view Mrs Faust as an object. 

As well as a poor relationship with Faust, Mrs Faust faces constant dissatisfaction with herself. Because she feels like nothing more than an object to her husband, and in turn goes to great lengths to become an object of his affection. The lifestyle The Faust’s chose caused Mrs Faust to lose her self, magnifying her objectivity. She has become detached from feelings and has ultimately let go of her soul in order to fit the lifestyle that she lives. Mrs Faust goes on to change her physical appearance: “Had a facelift, /had my breasts enlarged, /my buttocks tightened” (Duffy 76-78).  Mrs Faust alters her body moving towards the “perfect human” that so many women strive for. Nonetheless, in doing so she feels like nothing more than a material object that needs refurbishing. The changes however, do not stop there. Mrs Faust “Went blonde, /redhead, brunette, /went native, ape, /berserk, bananas”(Duffy 84-87). These four lines depict not only physical, but emotional change. The words chosen by Duffy allude to an interesting point. The words “berserk” and “bananas” do not have the best connotation. When thinking of why Duffy elected to use this particular, one can’t help but wonder if she tries to communicate something to the reader. That all Mrs Faust has been through, plastic surgeries to hair color changes, has had a deeper impact on Mrs Faust, eventually turning crazy because of the constant need to be better. Mrs Faust resorts to spending thousands of dollars on an array of different procedures.  On average, Butt augmentation, also known as a Brazilian Butt Lift, costs $ 4,580. Likewise a Breast Lift cost approximately $ 4,377. In addition to the cost of these procedures, a typical facelift cost upwards of $6,550 (American Society of Plastic Surgeons). The material wealth that surrounds Mrs Faust lets her become an object. Faust has convinced her that she can’t exist as anything more than item in someone’s life.

In close reading “Mrs Faust” we start to really understand the consequences of living a materialistic lifestyle. A precious human, with a soul and emotions, gets turned into a lifeless object. Mrs Faust did not really live a life, but rather was just an object in someone else’s existence. The material wealth did not make her happy nor did she have someone who made her happy. To Faust, his wife amounted to nothing more than a toy. Trapped in a larger collection of boats, homes, and degrees. She did not matter on an emotional level to the one who vowed to love her unconditionally. With this lack love, Mrs Faust believes that she cannot be more than object in Faust’s life. Faust has transformed Mrs Faust into an object of his material wealth. He has made her think less of herself and believe that she is nothing more than another one of his objects. Duffy shows how damaging Faust is in the relationship with his wife. Furthermore she shows how, when you live a life full of materialistic wealth, everything around you has the ability to turn into a material object, even people. With each procedure that changes her body, and each appointment that changes her hair color, Mrs Faust gets farther and farther away from the person that she was when she first met her husband. It takes everything out of the person that makes them unique. Mrs Faust is trying to mold herself to fit the unreachable standard set out by her husband. Mrs Faust loses her self in her life, which revolves around pleasing someone that can never fully be pleased. She has not realized that her husband will never see her as more than an object. Once the emotion and soul leave a person, and they grow “to love lifestyle, not the life” (Duffy 19-20). 
