Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Richard Cory" In A Nutshell

Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory” illustrates situational irony as the character who has everything for the town’s people commits suicide contrary to the expectation. The poem beginning with a binary opposition between Cory and the town’s people portrays Richard Cory as a wealthy man. The speaker and his peers belong to a lower class since they are “on the pavement” unlike Richard Cory whose name also implies that he is “rich”. The town’s people who have to carry on working for the light presume that Richard Cory has no problems and no reason to commit suicide as he is “richer than a king”. However, they cannot understand that wealth or status might not bring or guarantee happiness, emotional fulfillment, and spiritual peace. Thus, their limited point of view creates situational irony.

The poem describes Cory’s attributes which emphasize his higher social class with such words as “crown”, “imperially” and “king”. In the first stanza, Cory is defined as a gentleman suggesting his courtliness and nobility. In the second stanza, it is mentioned that he creates an abnormal excitement for the town’s people, and “he glitters” implying his jewelry or his aura. Ultimately, the speaker stresses the biggest difference, which is wealth, between Cory and them. While the town’s people want to be in Cory’s place as they have a materialistic approach, Cory ends his life, which contradicts the speaker's and his peers’ way of seeing the values of the world.