Mrs Midas

Carol Ann Duffy

“Mrs Midas” is one of the poems included in Carol Ann Duffy’s 1999 collection “The World’s Wife”. In this collection she used wit and humour to great effect to debunk the pretentiousness of men down the centuries. Figures from history and myth were perceived from an irreverent female perspective to make a series of incisive comments about woman’s place in the world and also to reveal aspects of her own complex psychology.

Mrs. Midas - Context

Who was King Midas?

King Midas

In Greek mythology, King Midas was granted a wish by the god Dionysus as reward for bringing Dionysus’ wandering father home. Midas chose the ability to transform to gold anything he touched.

Midas quickly realised the folly of his greed; unable to eat, drink or make any human contact - and close to deranged - he begs Dionysus to retract his gift.

Some versions of the legend assert that he murdered his own daughter by touching her and turning her to gold.

Mrs Midas

Dramatic monologue told from viewpoint of Midas’ wife.

With comical undertones, a wide range of emotions is expressed through the persona of Mrs Midas as she speaks out against her husband’s foolish actions and gradually separates herself from him.

She leaves him to waste away in isolation while she laments the loss of their physical relationship and the chance to have a baby together to fulfil their dreams.

It was late September. 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. So I opened one,

then with my fingers wiped the other’s glass like a brow.

He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig.

A typical domestic scene is presented in the first stanza.

The language used to describe the scene reflects the mood of Mrs Midas as she ‘unwinds’

‘September’ – a time we would associate with the golden colours of autumn. But also, things coming to an end.

Personification of kitchen creates a warm, appealing, atmosphere.

Atmosphere is shattered by the final line: ‘snapping a twig.’ – connotes something violent. Harsh consonant sounds in final phrase contrast with softer consonant and vowel sounds earlier in the stanza.

Simile introduces importance of sense of touch to Mrs M – she is later no longer able to touch Midas. Tenderness of speaker is asserted.

Note:

The first thing Midas is proported to have touched upon receiving his ‘gift’ is an oak twig

Now the garden was long and the visibility poor, the way

the dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky,

but that twig in his hand was gold. And then he plucked

a pear from a branch - we grew Fondante d'Automne -

and it sat in his palm like a light bulb. On.

I thought to myself, Is he putting fairy lights in the tree?

Mr M’s disbelief over what is happening is emphasised by the length of time she takes to comprehend what she is seeing: ‘fingers wiped’ the window in stanza 1. Now the ‘visibility poor’.

Personification: ‘dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky’ – sounds ominous. Reflects the idea of life being drained from something.

Contrast between lack of light in first two lines and brightness of ‘gold’ twig and pear ‘like a lightbulb.’ This simile seems unnatural – and perhaps symbolises Midas realising…

Structure (‘On.’) adds dramatic effect. Question in last line again highlights Mrs M’s disbelief.

Stanza 3 – NoteMiss Macready could be an allusion to the

housekeeper in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, who was much more interested in showing off the house than looking after the children

ORMiss Macready – presumably a reference

to the History teacher who taught a young Mrs Midas about…

‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’The site of a meeting that took place in France from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII and King Francis I of France. The glamour and extravagance of the meeting showed two princes out-doing each other with their shows of wealth.

Relevance to Mrs Midas?

He came into the house. The doorknobs gleamed.

He drew the blinds. You know the mind; I thought of

the Field of the Cloth of Gold and of Miss Macready.

He sat in that chair like a king on a burnished throne.

The look on his face was strange, wild, vain. I said,

What in the name of God is going on? He started to laugh.

Short, basic sentences. Marks her confusion as she watches his progress around the house.

Delirious with rush of power, pride

Irreverent, rude awakening from his ‘glow’

Simile: reference to the mythological Midas. Burnished suggesting the colour of gold – his gift is hinted at, not outright stated.

I served up the meal. For starters, corn on the cob.

Within seconds he was spitting out the teeth of the rich.

He toyed with his spoon, then mine, then with the knives, the forks.

He asked where was the wine. I poured with shaking hand,

a fragrant, bone-dry white from Italy, then watched

as he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank.

Attempt to cling onto normality

We are taken with narrator as she observes each stage of transformation

Suggests the pleasant, civilised life they had – now being spoiled

Alliterative list marks the stages of transformation

Religious connotations: the Eucharist is drank from a chalice. Perhaps allusion to the miraculous power Midas has acquired, perhaps to draw on ideas of morality – right and wrong – with regards to Mr Midas’ choice

It was then that I started to scream. He sank to his knees.

After we had both calmed down, I finished the wine

on my own, hearing him out. 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. I couldn't believe my ears:

Structure highlights the contrasting reactions of the two characters as they face the horror of their situation.

Narrator’s personality is conveyed; grounded, calm, personable.Humorous asides mark her practical nature – protecting the cat but slightly amused at the prospect of a ‘golden throne’ as a toilet

(contemporary setting is reasserted in the very modern reaction to crisis - finishing bottle of wine)

how he'd had a wish. Look, we all have wishes; granted.

But who has wishes granted? Him. Do you know about gold?

It feeds no one; aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes

no thirst. He tried to light a cigarette; I gazed, entranced,

as the blue flame played on its luteous stem. At least,

I said, you'll be able to give up smoking for good.

Play on words, using the punctuation to change the meaning of the repeated phrase. Homorous. Tone: incredulous

One word sentence marks her anger, resentment

Seemingly facile question catches readers off-guard

The intolerable repercussions – which may not have occurred to us – begin to emerge

Again, her pragmatic nature is marked

Lists characteristics of gold; attractive in so many ways but obstructive to life

Separate beds. In fact, I put a chair against my door,

near petrified. He was below, turning the spare room

into the tomb of Tutankhamun. You see, we were passionate

then,

in those halcyon days; unwrapping each other, rapidly,

like presents, fast food. But now I feared his honeyed embrace,

the kiss that would turn my lips to a work of art.

The caesura marks the significance of this consequence, the finality.

The necessary fear suffered by the narrator of the man she loved

Lurking, prowling – allusion to threat. Ref. to Egyptian king to assert the richness, ‘tomb’ marks death (of their relationship?).

Early marriage – physical intimacy is frequent and important to them.Halcyon = joyful, tranquil, carefree‘fast food’ – something to be devoured, savouredNote: parallel to Valentine in simile (wrapping, gift…)

Marks the central idea of the poem; the loss of touch, of physical contact, as it has become fraught and hazardous. Echoed in the closing lines of the poem. ‘work of art’ suggests a beauty which is ultimately lifeless.

And who, when it comes to the crunch, can live

with a heart of gold? 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. My dream-milk

burned in my breasts. I woke to the streaming sun.

Dual meaning; both suggests it is not possible to survive with this gift (as the husband must soon perish of starvation) and it is not possible to tolerate such coldness and hedonism in a partner

Both similes link to the idea of entrapment, restraint; links to narrator’s feelings of entrapment with her partner

Marks her yearning desire for a child; this will not now come to pass

Idea of revelation, seeing the reality of their situation in the cold light of day, which forces acceptance.

Repetition of ‘its’ as pronoun – marks her inability to see this as a human baby

So he had to move out. We'd a caravan

in the wilds, in a glade of its own. I drove him up

under cover of dark. He sat in the back.

And then I came home, the woman who married the fool

who wished for gold. At first I visited, odd times,

parking the car a good way off, then walking.

Caesurae mark the finality of their actions and the detachment the narrator now feels to her partner

Midas’ idiocy has also made a fool of his wife – who loved him and had committed to a future with him; a future he relinquished for such a paltry reward

You knew you were getting close. Golden trout

on the grass. One day, a hare hung from a larch,

a beautiful lemon mistake. And then his footprints,

glistening next to the river's path. He was thin,

delirious; hearing, he said, the music of Pan

from the woods. Listen. That was the last straw.

Enjambment separates the trout from its alien setting – marks the life that he inadvertently destroys, just as he has his wife’s

Tone of sadness – solitary descriptions of these “beautiful mistakes”

This gift – so associated with wealth and prosperity has left him not only emotional desolate but physically wasting and going insane. Sentence structure marks his hysteria, unhinged psyche.

Another mythological reference – Midas, on pleading with Dionysus to remove his power – comes to despise all wealth and becomes a worshipper of Pan (satyr and god of shepherds, famed for his music)

What gets me now is not the idiocy or greed

but lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness. I sold

the contents of the house and came down here.

I think of him in certain lights, dawn, late afternoon,

and once a bowl of apples stopped me dead. I miss most,

even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch.

In bitter irony, it is only the wife who benefits financially from Midas’ ability to turn the world into gold. This is little to comfort to her in her loneliness and disappointment.

Crux of the poem; his foolishness and greed has caused him to forsake intimacy. Closing words link to common phrase ‘The Midas Touch’, so often used positively, to suggest one who can do no wrong, yet her she marks the bitter loss and sacrifice. Emphasised by repetition of ‘hands’.

Level headed reflection. She acknowledges his character flaws, but seemingly was willing to accept those. It is his apathy towards her which hurts most

As with a bereavement, she is haunted by him, particularly in those ‘golden’ times of day.