What is dramatic irony?

Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience (if it's a play) or the reader knows something that the characters don't. When the character's words or actions have a greater significance to the audience than themselves, we label it as 'dramatic irony'. The most famous example of dramatic irony is 'Romeo and Juliet.' Juliet takes a drink to give her the appearance of having died, when actually she is merely unconscious. Romeo had no idea that Juliet was faking her death; he thought she had really died! When he sees her he is overcome by grief, and decides to take his own life. This is an example of dramatic irony: we the audience know something (i.e: Juliet is alive) that the character on stage (i.e: poor, heartbroken Romeo) did not.

Dramatic Irony was originally used in Ancient Greek Theatre and is an important dramatic device used in tragedy.

Dramatic Irony occurs mainly in a play where the audience knows a piece of information that a key character does not.

For example: In Romeo and Juliet the character Paris tells the Friar that he and Juliet are going to be married on a certain day BUT we, in the audience, already know that Juliet has said that she would rather die than marry Paris.

When you as the reader of whatever you’re reading, knows something which the character dosen’t

When the audience knows something that a character(s) do not.

When the audience knows something that the character does not i.e. If a character were to say "I will have a great day today", and we already know that someone is planning to make his day awful!

A technique in literature whereby the audience or reader is made aware of something in that text that other characters are not. For example, when Romeo thinks Juliet is dead but we, the audience, know she has merely taken a sleeping potion.

A technique often used in theatre or other media, also sometimes in print. The main feature of such is that the 'audience', reader or consumer is made to know more of what is happening than the character.

Dramatic irony is a literary tool (often used in theatre, but also seen in other forms of literature), wherein the audience is aware of something that the characters are not. This may create tension, suspense or even humour in some cases.

When the audience know something that the character are not aware of.

Dramatic irony is a dramatic technique where the audience is well aware of a fact that the character doesn't. For example, in the play An Inspector Calls, Mr Birling refers to the Titanic as 'unsinkable,' which is an inaccurate statement.

A literary technique when the audience/reader know something that the characters do not.

Dramatic Irony is where the reader or audience know something the characters in the story do not.

This occurs in films and plays when the author has already told the audience something about the action or characters which the characters themselves don't know.. This usually gives the actions or speach in the play a different meaning. For example, if a character says 'I would never rob a bank', but the audience already know he will.

Dramatic irony is when the reader (you) knows something important that one or more of the characters in the story don’t know. It is as though you have been let in on a secret by the person narrating the story. It is different from situational irony (see below) - be careful not to confuse these.

To summarise:

• Dramatic Irony is when the reader knows something important that one or more of the characters don’t know.
• situational Irony occurs when an event in a story turns out to be the exact opposite of what the reader had expected to happen.

Dramatic irony is a literary and dramatic device or technique. It is used to great effect in literature and drama and cinema. A good example would be when the readership or audience knows something which the characters are performers do not. An example would be Viola's disguise in 12th Night - or The scene of the Policeman standing behind Charlie Chaplin in The Tramp. We know but Charlie himself doesn't.