Property, cars, clothes, shoes, and the latest technology. Those are all things that make up a good, successful life, right? According to the poem Mrs Faust, those things do rule your life, but they do not make you whole. When we look at the theme of materialism in Mrs Faust, we can see that the author makes use of the element of a soul in her poem to aid in expressing how detrimental materialism is to the life we were born to have, which most people do not see. This is important because it gives the poem a much more scary and urgent meaning, and sends a message that even when you essentially have everything, you will always end up with nothing.

Throughout the entire poem of Mrs Faust, we see how material goods mold and change the way Mr. and Mrs. Faust live their lives. The author spends the entire poem humanizing them from the outside looking in, showing them with fancy cars and second houses, getting degrees and jobs, and slowly growing apart from each other as this happens (Duffy 5-17). This show of a materialistic life is almost too relatable in the society that we have right now. Finally we see what this horrible materialistic mindset has done to the Fausts. They are no longer living life for themselves, but for their things and possessions. This outlook on life has made them cold and distant from the feelings and emotions that make one human. On Faust’s dying day he says to his wife,

“I’ve made a pact

with Mephistopheles,

the Devil’s boy.

He’s on his way

to take away

what’s owed,

reap what I sowed.

For all these years of

gagging for it,

going for it,

rolling in it,

I’ve sold my soul” (Duffy 94-105). 

Of all the things that he had, he is now willing to give up the one thing that tied him to this earth. Being a materialistic person has completely torn him from the things that make us human at our core. The simple fact of having a soul is something he took for granted, and he is now giving that up and is content with knowing that he had only material possessions all his life. 

During the entire poem the author never once mentioned something so non materialistic as a soul. The soul must be so important if she is willing to compare the trading of a soul for every material good and experience Faust had his entire life. Having a soul that has not been poisoned by materialistic living should not be overlooked. If you want to have a soul you cannot be greedy or hurtful to others. Once you have pushed the consciousness of your soul far enough away, there is no getting it back. The author spends the entire poem up until the second to last stanza referencing Faust's life filled with material goods, exciting titles, and many affairs with different women. In the end we see that all of those things boil down to the equivalent of his soul.

The soul is the part of us that makes us feel alive. It controls our thoughts, feelings and actions arguably more than the brain does. I believe that the soul is more or less the best part of us, guiding us to live our lives using our hearts. The very essence of our life as human beings has nothing to do with material items, as they were not even invented when humanity first began. The way you feel has nothing to do with what you have, but with your experiences in the world and with those you surround yourself with. Two people leading completely different lives can still have the same thoughts, our minds do not care how much money you have. This idea and personal meaning behind the soul could not be simpler, yet the Faust’s disregarded their souls everyday in order to put possessions above it. The importance of the author expressing that people live their lives everyday to keep their souls intact could not be more important. No one should end up like Faust and realize that “The clever, cunning, callous bastard/ didn’t have a soul to sell” (Duffy 128-129). Even after Faust is dead and gone, he is still tricking everyone. By destroying his soul in life, Faust was even able to trick the devil. Not only is the author of this poem saying that living life with materialistic blinders on will force you to sell your soul in the end, she is saying that it will destroy your soul while you are still alive and leave you empty. Faust was so caught up in his possessions that he did not even realize he was dead before it even happened.

Mrs Faust is a poem that displays the harsh reality of what materialism truly does to a person. The life of Mr and Mrs Faust emulates the life of people all over the world today. We spend our valuable time thinking about the material things we don’t have, and then spend the rest of our lives trying to attain an unrealistic goal of having everything. When we read this poem we call the characters things like selfish, self-centered, obsessed and crazed by objects, but are we not like that as well? This poem is a sadly realistic portrayal of how everyone's life could be if they let it slip away from them. It is like watching a train wreck without being able to look away. We wander what will happen to them, but only because we are wondering what will happen to us if we continue to live this way. The Faust’s lived their whole lives only to realize that they were empty shells without a tie to their true identity. The day you realize that you never even had a soul to sell is not a day worth living for. After reading this poem it is clear to see that when you essentially “have” everything, you end up with nothing.
