In the poem “Mrs Faust” by Carol Ann Duffy, the author tells a complicated, twisted, and bitter ‘love story.’ What started out as a happy couple buying their first house together, abruptly turns into a power-hungry male searching to feed his unquenchable thirst for material possessions and unlimited success. As a result, Mrs Faust realizes that she is no longer in love with Mr Faust. On can see this with the statement, “I grew to love the lifestyle, not the life” (Duffy 18). When we look at Duffy’s poem, we can see the strong desire for material items. This is important because obsession with possessions leads to a destructive and ultimately meaningless life. Though the couple was financially stable, their relationship lacked any sort of compassion for each other which resulted in their downfall. This greed and thirst for more than what is needed is an ongoing problem today.

The Faust couple started off as successful townspeople. They were medical doctors, clearly well-off in the money department of their relationship. As the poem progresses, Mrs Faust admits that her husband seemed to become greedy and yearned for more than what they already had. She claims, “Faust’s face was clever, greedy, slightly mad” (Duffy 16). This greed and frenzy she refers to is a result of an ongoing pursuit of material possessions that will never be satisfied. She apparently was no longer enough for him, so he turned to prostitutes and cheating in response to this greed: “He grew to love the kudos, not the wife.  He went to whores,” (Duffy 21). Mrs Faust, in return, begins to distance herself from her husband and begins her own materialistic journey. 

Mrs Faust’s reaction to her husband’s behavior is truly peculiar. After learning that she is being cheated on, she confesses “I felt, not jealous, but the chronic irritation” (Duffy 24). From the way she expresses her emotion, or lack thereof, it seems to be less of a major issue and more of a nuisance to her. Because of the lack of compassion towards each other and an over dose of material possessions, the emotional distance between the two of them keeps widening. Mrs Faust begins to occupy herself with self-improvement activities such as yoga, t’ai chi, and therapy. She realizes that the way she is living is not much of a life at all, and ventures on her own to live a more satisfying life for the time being. Mrs Faust self-indulgences include: “saw Rome in a day, spun gold from hay, had a facelift, had my breasts enlarged, my buttocks tightened; went to China, Thailand, Africa, returned enlightened” (Duffy 74-81). Here we see that she is resorting to temporary fixes to fill her time and emptiness of her vacant relationship with Mr Faust.  A heavy majority of this poem seems to be experienced alone, rather than the two with each other. This supports the idea that though the couple may have anything money can buy, the one thing it cannot buy is happiness which is what they are lacking.

At last, Mrs Faust goes on to continue that after all of this, the devil rises from hell to retrieve her husband. Allegedly, Mr Faust has sold his soul because he reached the greediest level of wanting all the material possessions in the world that he decided it would be worth it to give it up to the devil. As the devil took him under, Mrs Faust then received his will and the sum of all his possessions. She thought to herself after her husband was dragged to hell, it is a humorous situation because he “didn’t have a soul to sell” (Duffy 129). The reason Mr Faust did not have a soul to sell was because his obsession with tangible earthly items became him and left him as unhuman. Mrs Faust still had her soul because despite her vain personality and also buying into these worldly pleasures, she still had emotions. Her husband on the other hand, became so infatuated with his own success and money that the greed diminished his soul, leaving him with nothing to give to the devil.

Greed is still very much alive today and there a tons of power-hungry people out there who will do whatever it takes to become successful or make a name for themselves. In doing this, the person loses the value of their life, deeming it utterly meaningless. If you are a sellout, you will do whatever measures are necessary to stay relevant and flourish. Rather than being your own person, you are sacrificing your identity, or in this case soul, for greedy and selfish reasons. Our time here on earth should be spent looking to answer questions about ourselves; in other words, we should inquire about our purpose in life. If a life is lived without a purpose, is it really a life? Material possessions can consume people today and is extremely damaging to relationships and friendships. Pushing aside greediness and thirst for treasures is a surefire way to live a more purposeful and satisfying life. It is best to live with emotion and compassion for others than to rot alone. Even surrounded by all the gold in the world, it does not mean anything if you do not have someone to share your success and emotions with.
