In society today, most people care more about material possessions than enjoying their lives. They focus solely on making money and not on their relationships with other people. This leads to relationships failing, as shown by the divorce rate in America being over 50%. American society is one of the most materialistic countries in the world, which is why the US has the 10th highest divorce rate of any country in the world. It probably isn’t a coincidence that the US is also one of the most materialistic countries in the world. Materialism certainly can play a role in divorce, as people get greedy and too obsessed with objects, rather than with the connections they make with other people. The poem Mrs. Faust shows one example of a divorce, and the effect that materialism in the divorce. The main reason that the Fausts got divorced and ended up living sad lives is their materialism, which shows that money can’t buy happiness.

Mr. Faust and Mrs. Faust were both rich, educated people, who thought that they had everything they needed. Mrs. Faust, as the narrator, explains how they didn’t have kids, which allowed them to travel and get extravagant things for themselves. As Mrs. Faust tells us, “Fast cars. A boat with sails. / A second home in Wales. / The latest toys – computers, / mobile phones. Prospered” (Duffy 11-14). The Fausts have many expensive things that people strive to get, such as a house in another country, a boat, fast cars, etc. If you looked at a couple with all of this, you would assume that they would love their life, and not have many problems. When viewing the Fausts from a distance, you would expect them to be the happiest people in the world, and to have a very healthy, loving relationship. Up to this point in the poem, you wouldn’t think anything different. You would just assume that because of their financial success, they would have a great marriage. However, as the poem goes on, you start to see the side of their marriage that you wouldn’t expect.

Mrs. Faust goes from talking about their wealth to speaking about the problems with their marriage in the third stanza. The third stanza states, “I grew to love lifestyle, / not the life” (Duffy 18-19). Mrs. Faust tells us that she loved the extravagant lifestyle the couple lived, but she didn’t love the life itself. This shows that despite all of their successes, they had many problems with their marriage. People can have all of the material things that they want, but all those things ultimately won’t make them enjoy life any more than they did before they had these possessions. Mrs. Faust adds, “He grew to love the kudos, / not the wife. / He went to whores. / I felt, not jealousy, / but the chronic irritation” (Duffy 20-24). As their marriage continued to dissolve, Mr. Faust distanced himself from Mrs. Faust, and didn’t love her anymore. Neither of them loved each other, but they both loved what being married to the other brought with it. For Mrs. Faust, being married to Faust gave her an extravagant lifestyle, with all of the material possessions she could want. For Faust, being with Mrs. Faust brought with it the attention of being married, and it made him appear to be a better man to people not close to him, as they saw a married man, who must have been a good husband. Faust started cheating on Mrs. Faust frequently, which shows how bad their marriage was. However, the point that really shows how bad of a state their marriage was in is when Mrs. Faust says that she wasn’t jealous as a result of the cheating, but was instead irritated. This shows how much she didn’t love Faust and didn’t care about their marriage, as any loving wife would be furious if their husband cheated on them, but she is rather unbothered by it. These lines show us just how bad their marriage was, and foreshadow what will happen later in the poem.

For the next few stanzas, Mrs. Faust continues to discuss their dysfunctional and extremely distant marriage. She highlights Faust’s rise to power in politics, banks, and business, and his lavish lifestyle. She also discusses how her life changes, and how she goes through different phases of her life- being vegan, dying her hair, traveling the world, as well as other ventures. She says that she went crazy, which is a direct effect on the failure of her marriage, and likely her jealousy of Faust as he continued to get richer and seem to enjoy his life. After what she called going on the run by herself, she finally returned home to Faust. She tells us about her discussion with Faust when she returned home. Faust tells her, “For all these years of / gagging for it, / going for it, / rolling in it, / I’ve sold my soul” (Duffy 101-105). In exchange for all of his wealth and material possessions, Faust sold his soul to the devil. This explains why he wasn’t a good husband and didn’t enjoy life more, as he didn’t have a soul. Faust then gets dragged away by the devil, as he dies. In Faust’s will, he leaves all of his possessions to Mrs. Faust, and as a result of this, she wasn’t too affected by his death. Their marriage was extremely unloving, which mostly came as a result of Faust selling his soul to the devil and being so obsessed with material possessions, as well as Mrs. Faust loving the materials. 

Mrs. Faust’s story is a cautionary tale to people, showing that no matter how successful you are and no matter how many expensive things you have, you can’t buy happiness. The Fausts had everything that they could want, except for love for each other, as well as happiness. Neither one of them enjoyed their life, and all they were worried about was what they had materially, instead of fixing their failing marriage. If they cared nearly as much about their marriage as they did about their wealth, they would have had a very successful marriage. Instead, they lived miserable lives that left both of them unsatisfied, always trying to be happy, but never reaching true happiness. This story is very relevant to today’s society, as many marriages are failing as a result of greed and materialism. Carol Duffy’s poem shows the effect that materialism has on marriages and life in general, and how hurtful it can be. 
