
In today’s day and age, people acquire out of life as much as they invest in.  If one is shallow in what they input, then an exceedingly large output is unlikely.  If you put greed into life, then your “rewards” in life are going to be incredibly unsubstantial.  However, if one puts love and compassion in, then the whole world and its happiness will bestow itself upon them.  While most readers of Carrol Ann Duffy’s poem, “Mrs Faust”, have declared that she illustrated the old saying, “money can’t buy happiness”, a sharp and precise reading depicts that her poem is actually guiding her reader’s through her art to reveal that the rewards in life will only be as fulfilling as the hard work and dedication that one puts into it.

The pace of this poem is fast and choppy, just like the lifestyle Mr and Mrs Faust were living.  From the first stanza, many things can be depicted about the dynamics of their relationship.  “We met as students, shacked up, split up, made up, hitched up…” (23; lines 3-5).  These two simple lines show shallowness in the early stages of the young couple’s relationship.  The two were already living together without being married as shown by the definition of shacked up.  They then split apart, and “hitched up”, which means to fasten temporarily.  This little piece of the story goes against many core values.  Living together before marriage goes against values of many religions.  Another core value of many religions is to have kids.  This was also not the case in this marriage as they both were selfishly focusing on knowledge.  Lastly, temporarily fixing problems is not beneficial for a relationship in the long run.  Mr and Mrs Faust did not put as much effort into their relationship as they could have, which leads to their relationship falling apart.

The second stanza goes into where the Fausts started to prosper.  They had everything one could want in the “fast life”: cars, houses, and technology.  It should be noted that Mr and Mrs Faust were both equally as greedy and cunning.  As the poem continues, Mrs Faust confesses that she had fallen in love with the lifestyle and not her life, while Mr Faust fell in love with recognition and success.  Once someone falls in love with shallow meanings in life, their joy is gravely limited.  One cannot solely input financial success and work, and receive anything more than money.  Satisfaction will not occur from monetary value alone as it does not have any true source of happiness.  Money cannot purchase family, friends, or a loving spouse.  This is exactly what happened to Mr Faust.  Mr Faust began to get caught up in whores instead of being loyal to his wife.  Since Mr and Mrs Faust had such a shallow relationship, Mr Faust became just as shallow with other women.  Mr and Mrs Fausts inputs were so depthless that even simple happiness could not be obtained in their lives.

“Next thing, the world, as Faust said, spread its legs” (24; lines 45-47).  This line drives home the point that Mr. Faust cares about nothing more than what he can manipulate out of people or the world for his own benefits.  This line occurred in the story just after he sold his soul to the devil.  The treasures of the world do not just appear at will.  Mr Faust got to where he was because of what he inputted.  Yes, Mr Faust was an incredibly smart and a business savvy man.  However, Faust was also a fool and a coldhearted person.  Mr Faust thought that the world was beneath him, just as all the other pieces in his life were.  Mr Faust also thought that he was on the same level as God.  For this, Mr Faust was incredibly blind.    

Mrs Faust had an unorthodox way with coping with her distraught relationship.  Mrs Faust looked for new knowledge in different places such as yoga, martial arts, and various other ways to calm herself.  This was not a bad place for Mrs Faust to start, as these practices can be very substantial.  When Mr and Mrs Faust actually split, Mrs Faust coped differently.  Mrs Faust traveled all over, trying to find her spirituality and enhance her looks.  Mrs Faust eventually went into turmoil because of this and returned home.  Mrs Faust experiences were not beneficial to her because she was already in a place of distraught in her life.  Mrs Faust was greedy and knowledge hungry, just like Mr Faust, which made it seemingly impossible for her to find true happiness.

When Mrs Faust returns home, Mr Faust tells her about his deal with the devil.  Imagery and an allusion are used when the devil was compared to a serpent (27; lines 108-112).  This is a common comparison in religion as the devil appeared to Adam in the Garden of Eden as a serpent.  Mr Faust’s lavish lifestyle could not protect himself from the devil, not even his wealthy home.  This brings the poem to a state where Mr Faust is finally human again and isn’t above the world.  When Mr Faust was taken to hell by the devil, Mrs Faust gained all of his fortunes.  This shows that even through all of the experiences she has been through, Mrs Faust is still incredibly materialistic and caught up in fortunes.  She doesn’t even care that her husband is dead as shown by, “C’est la vie”, which means “that’s life”. (27; line 126).  Mrs Faust had all the money one could dream of.  In the last three lines of the story Mrs Faust finally reveals Mr Faust’s secret.  Mr Faust tricked the devil as he didn’t have a soul to sell.  Mr Faust lost his soul when he fell in love with money, whores, and unlimited knowledge.  Mr Faust inputted tools of evil into his life, and was rewarded with the disappearance of his soul.

The poem “Mrs Faust”, explains that the rewards and outcomes granted to one by life, are only as fulfilling as the hard work that one puts in.  This poem is not only about how money can’t buy happiness.  Money in itself is not bad at all.  Money is only bad when people fall in love with it.  When someone falls in love with materials, they will never be able to find true happiness.  However, one can have all of the money in the world and still be extremely happy.  One could have a loving family and treasure the small values of life while still having money.  Money can enhance the quality of life if happiness is already achieved.  An example of this would be when Mrs Faust bought herself a kidney because she was ill (27; lines 127-130).  This showed that money itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, it is the devil if one worships it and puts it in front of life itself.  I was young and naïve at one point, just like Mr Faust.  When I was sixteen years old, I thought that money was the most important thing in life.  I actually believed that I would be happier than everyone else if I had more money than them.  I soon learned this was not the case whatsoever.  I started to realize that many of my wealthy friends’ parents were getting divorced.  This didn’t only affect the happiness of the parents, but also that of their children.  It took time but I finally came to the realization that money is disposable, while family, friends, and loved ones are indispensable.  Say you lost a hundred dollar bill one day.  Yes, a hundred dollars is a lot of money to many people, but one can earn another hundred dollars by working hard at their job.  Now say you lost a loved one.  Nothing in this world can replace that person.  Money will come and go, but family, friends, and loved ones will last a lifetime.   Success isn’t based on how little or how much money ones has, but is determined rather by the extent of happiness in which one is living.  Remember, the only way to live a fulfilling, rewarding life is to put in life as much as you want to receive. 
