
The poem, Mrs. Faust is complex in several ways.  In the poem Mrs. Faust, an audience can gauge many different angles for how the characters feel.  Their actions are not always clear, and are left for interpretation.  I think by looking closely at context clues and intricate details the reader can find more in this poem.  Mrs. Faust is used as a symbol for sexism, and women injustices, but when taking a closer look more lessons can be found. 

While reading this poem for the first time, I could not help but notice the horrible details of their marriage.  The way in which money is so important to Mr. Faust and the way he cheats, and does crazy things is not how normal husbands act.  I also pictured a sad woman with every material item a person could dream of, while also knowing her husband cheats on her.  A woman secretly hating her life, looking for a way out but not speaking her mind, partly because she is a woman.  After re-reading the poem several times I began to take more from it.  I started picking out key moments in the novel such as “had a facelift, /had my breasts enlarged, /my buttocks tightened” (Duffy 76-78).  I found myself going back to these lines because why would Mrs. Faust be improving her body image if she does not love her husband or care that he cheats on her.  Getting work done on her body gives a sense that she is trying to impress Faust, or win his attention back.  Maybe she does still love him, or maybe her confidence or self-worth as a woman has disappeared due to the fact her husband left her.  One last phrase of the poem that tied all of the feeling Mrs. Faust was feeling as well is, “I grew to love lifestyle, /not the life” (Duffy 18-19).  Mrs. Faust loved all of the things she received from being with a man who treated her poorly and cheated, but was unhappy with her life.  

As I stated before, I think this poem speaks in volumes to women around the world, who are treated less than the man.  The fact that Mrs. Faust’s name is never written shows how unimportant her role is as a human being.  Mrs. Faust is Mr. Faust’s wife and that is all.  The poem is stressing that she had no other purpose or responsibility on this world, then to be his wife.  In the beginning of the poem Duffy uses the pronoun “we” flourished academically.  Which is including both of the Faust’s having success.  Stanzas later, the poem lists all of Faust’s success and how unhappy Mrs. Faust becomes so quickly.  Mrs. Faust went to school just like Faust.  She had potential, she was smart, but amounted to nothing because of her spouse.  “We met as students, shacked up, split up, / made up, hitched up, / got a mortgage on a house, flourished academically, BA. MA. Ph.D.” (Duffy 3-7).  As the reader can see Mrs. Faust was an extremely intelligent woman, who could have achieved just as much as he did.  I strongly believe this was a main cause for disappointment with how her life panned out.  Although Faust was accomplishing all of these amazing things, he did not bring his wife along with him to experience them.  She may have been proud of him, but could not relish in his achievements due to the fact that she was never able to have her own achievements.  

Another detailed example in a poem clearly written for women’s issues is the differences in lifestyle of the spouses while they were separated.  Although Mrs. Faust was seen upon by society as the more inferior spouse because of her lack of success in the work place, she again proves why she is actually superior to Faust.  While they spend their lives apart, they each chose to do entirely different things with their time.  Mrs. Faust decides to learn and explore compare to power hungry male Faust.  “Went to China, Thailand, Africa, / returned enlightened, / Turned 40, celibate, / teetotal, vegan, / Buddhist, 41” (Duffy 77-81).  Despite the fact that Mrs. Faust felt the need to have work done on her body before, she decides to find herself.  She takes trips to see different parts of the world and try new things.  She essentially really tries to find herself while Mr. Faust is an evil, soul-less, power hungry man, chasing wealth.  

Lastly, Duffy writes, “70 Faust surfed the internet /for like-minded Bo Peep” (Duffy 67-68).  I took this line that Faust was 70 years old at the time.  It then goes straight into lines about Mrs. Faust exploring her life, very differently, in her early 40’s.  This led me to believe that when Faust was 70, Mrs. Faust was 40.  This leaves a huge age gap in between the two of them.  Maybe she was a gold digger who actually fell in love.  She changed many things about herself to try and catch either his attention, or simply build up her self-worth.  This age gap would make more sense as to why they did not have children.  In the beginning of the poem Duffy mentions “no kids” (Duffy 7).  Which I was confused as to why that was mentioned.  I read online “A big issue for couples with a big age gap is mismatched life experiences and goals around marriage, children lifestyle and freedom” (Pappa 1).  This could be again as to why Mrs. Faust was so unhappy so early in their marriage.  Maybe she actually wanted children and Faust did not.  Even if this age gap is not true, they still were two very different people.  Mr. Faust acted like a teenager in his 70’s, while Mrs. Faust was traveling the world in her 40’s.  Faust wanted to have things, and money, rather than experiences and a family who loves him.

In conclusion, the poem written by Carol Ann Duffy titled Mrs. Faust is extremely deep and can be interpreted several different ways.  There are several examples of sexism and how this caused friction throughout their marriage.  This poem speaks volumes not only for their marriage but for women empowerment everywhere.  I saw age differences, and a poem addressing women’s injustices.  The poem makes you think and ask questions critically, read through the lines, and dig deep into what Duffy is trying to teach the reader.  
