Richard Cory Analysis

The Scarlet Letter and the poem Richard Cory both have comparable underlying themes within the text. Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson is trying to show the reader that outward appearance is not always as is seems. The Scarlet Letter is a complex and complicated story based on the sins of guilt and secrecy, in Hester Prynne’s Puritan society. They both share similar themes that can be represented by the different main characters of The Scarlet Letter. Arthur Dimmesdale is a young Puritan Minister, who is the father of Pearl, Hester Prynne's child, which is the result of Adultery between Hester and himself. Dimmesdale did not confess his sins to the church, didn’t stand up on the scaffold with Hester as he felt he should have. Instead he was too ashamed of what the Puritan society would think of him, so instead of choosing to stand on the scaffold, and relieve his sin, he tortured himself, both physically and psychologically. “His cheek was paler and thinner, and his voice more tremulous than before,—when it had now become a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture, to press his hand over his heart.” (Page 111) That excerpt is showing the extent of the damage Dimmesdale is putting upon himself, how the guilt of keeping that secret is destroying him, and it doesn’t help when Roger Chillingworth figures out Dimmesdale is the father, because he makes it his personal goal to destroy him even further. Relating back to Richard Cory, Dimmesdale is a person in the community that people look up to, “In fine, we thought that he was everything | To make us wish that we were …show more content…
Dimmesdale’s case is similar as the base of his deterioration started from the inside, and from keeping it in, started going to physical appearance, and eventually like Richard, killed