Mrs Midas Carol Ann Duffy Summary Mr Midas

Mrs Midas Carol Ann Duffy

Summary • Mr Midas wishes for a golden touch. • Mrs Midas is shocked by wish and tries to make sense of new reality. • Couple attempt to deal with consequences. • Mrs Midas exiles Mr Midas. • Mrs Midas leaves Mr Midas.

Context • Inspired by Greek myth of King Midas from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. • Retold with a modern twist. • Told from Midas’ wife’s perspective.

Structure • Dramatic monologue told from Mrs Midas’ POV. • 11 irregular/unrhymed stanzas -> reflects unpredictability of their life. • Stanzas are 6 lines with 12 -15 syllables (approx. ) > creates relaxed narrative.

Key Themes • Fear for Safety/Security • Relationships • Identity • Isolation • Anger • • • Love Greed Loss Change Nostalgia

Fear for Safety/Security “Separate beds. In fact I put a chair against my door, / near petrified. ” • Minor/short sentence -> decisive -> solid barrier represents end of physical relationship -> distance emphasises fear for safety. • Word choice -> emphasises extent of fear. • Play on words -> ‘turned to stone’ -> Mrs M would become cold/stone-like if touched -> suggests fear that relationship/Mrs M will become stagnant/unchanging; unable to move on.

Relationships “I made him sit/ on the other side of the room and keep his hands to himself. / I locked the cat in the cellar. I moved the phone. / The toilet I didn’t mind. ” Physical distance = distance in relationship. Self-preservation -> fear of gift. Tone -> comedy lightens mood. Concern for cat’s welfare -> doesn’t know what Mr M will do -> emotional distance in relationship -> can no longer understand him. • Mundanity grounds her -> ordinary object in extraordinary scenario. • Mrs M lured by materialism/ostentation. • Short sentences -> quicken narration (enhanced by factual language) -> reflects urgency of actions -> suggests roles in relationship quickly changed. • •

Identity “I’d just poured a glass of wine, begun/ to unwind, while the vegetables cooked. The kitchen/ filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, its steamy breath/ gently blanching the windows. ” • Stereotypical housewife -> reinforces domestic/prosaic scene. • Mrs M stereotypically in kitchen while Mr M is outside -> they assume their roles. • Personification -> heat too much -> suggests discomfort in stereotypical role. • Allusion -> ‘breathing down neck’ -> societal pressure to remain in role/pressured by Mr M to provide his meals. • Word Choice -> cooking method/drains colour -> lifestyle draining Mrs M of will to live -> suggests slowly over course of relationship.

Isolation “At first, I visited, odd times, /parking the car a good way off, then walking. ” • No longer visits -> compounds callousness/understandable -> Mrs M gave up too fast/needs time to process. • Midas far away -> Mrs M protecting car/preventing anyone following -> isolating Mr M to hoard his gift. • Punctuation -> commas fragment sentence -> mimics irregularity of visits -> emphasises fragmented relationship.

Anger “And then I came home, the woman who married the fool/who wished for gold. ” • Blaming herself -> should have foreseen this -> Mrs M distancing herself from who she was -> angry at her blindness. • Allusion -> ‘fool’s gold’ -> Mr M tricked into thinking wish is good/valuable -> Mrs M angry Mr M was deceived by society’s view of gold.

Love “I miss most, / even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch. ” • Syntax -> word order -> emphasises importance placed on physical intimacy. • Word choice -> root of problem yet what Mrs M misses most. • Repetition -> emphasises Mr M’s touch is lost forever-> suggests Mrs M feels empty without loving relationship. • Word choice -> emphasises contrast between coldness/hardness of gold and warmth of skin to skin contact -> suggests loving relationship is cold/dead. • Punctuation -> commas elongate sentence -> emphasises amount of time spent thinking about Mr M -> Mrs M lingers on memories of their love. • List -> emphasises poignancy -> Mrs M mourns passing of their love but looks back fondly.

Greed “He tried to light a cigarette; I gazed, entranced, / as the blue flame played on its luteous stem. ” • Word choice -> enthralled -> captivated by cigarette -> lured in by call of wealth. • Word choice -> mesmerised/drawn in -> surprising as previously condemned gold. • Allusion -> ‘playing with fire’ -> doing something dangerous that may cause harm/many problems -> suggests Mr M will harm himself/relationship/Mrs M due to his greed. • Word Choice -> yellow -> describes gold colour -> emphasises allure.

Loss “That night, I dreamt I bore/ his child, its perfect ore limbs, its little tongue/ like a precious latch, its amber eyes/ holding their pupils like flies. ” • Emphasises all Mrs M has lost -> reality of situation has set in -> longs for what they can never have together. • Repetition -> emphasises inhumanity/fictional quality of child -> will never happen as figment of Mrs M’s imagination. • Word choice -> evokes gold images -> emphasises child’s idyllic attractiveness -> suggests child is unrealistic physically/literally. • Simile -> implies breastfeeding -> Mrs M longs for emotional/physical connection -> craves intimacy as no more intimacy in marriage. • Simile -> amber resin preserves insects -> suggests dream has been fossilised -> long dead ideal. • Strange imagery suggests fear/abnormality of child.

Change “He was thin, / delirious; hearing, he said, the music of Pan/ from the woods. Listen. That was the last straw. ” • Word Choice -> emaciated/irrational -> indicates extent of physical/mental deterioration -> sorrowful state demonstrates consequences of wish. • Word Choice -> change in physical size/strength represents shift in relationship. • Allusion -> Greek Mythology -> Pan=God of shepherds/flocks -> ‘follow the flock’ -> suggests Mr M followed the crowd by wishing for something so mainstream -> changing society/Mr M corrupted by wealth. • Attuned to classical mythology roots -> ironic that gift equated with prosperity results in such emotional poverty. • Short Sentence -> emphasises Mrs M’s exasperation -> total change in attitude -> limit reached -> consequences of gift have worn Mrs M down -> can no longer endure stress of it.

Nostalgia “You see, we were passionate then, / in those halcyon days; unwrapping each other, rapidly, / like presents, fast food. ” • Enjambment -> emphasises those days are gone -> pause mimics Mrs M lingering on memories. • Word Choice -> perfect -> emphasises how wonderful relationship was. • Word Choice -> fun/exciting -> suggests relationship was enjoyable. • Word Choice -> unhealthy/disposable -> emphasises transience of relationship -> suggests quickly satisfied but never happy. . • Simile -> highlights un-healthiness/disposable nature of passion.

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