What is dramatic irony?

Dramatic irony is a technique used in literature whereby the audience knows something that a character does not. Juliet's death in Romeo and Juliet is an example of this; Romeo kills himself because he believes Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she's simply asleep.

Dramatic irony is a literary technique by which you as an audience/reader member know more than the characters within the story. The characters' actions have a different meaning for the audience than they do for the actors or characters, and this device often lends itself to tragedy

Dramatic Irony is when that audience knows something that the characters do not.

For example in ‘An Inspector Calls’ Mr Birling calls the Titanic ‘unsinkable’ however because the play was written after the Titanic sank, we (the audience) know he is wrong, so dramatic irony is being used.

Dramatic Irony is a literary device used in various different plays/books, its when the audience's or reader's understanding of events etc surpasses that of its characters for example in Macbeth when king Duncan arrives at Macbeths castle he says "this castle hath a PLEASANT seat" this is dramatic irony as we know it is not actually going to be pleasant and we know that is where Duncan dies

Dramatic Irony, is mainly used in theatres or other types of media such as television shows or films. This is when the audience such as the viewers are aware of a certain piece of information this can be very crucial information however the characters in the play/show is unaware of this - thus they are left in the dark. An example would be if the audience in the play shout 'Don't enter the house' - the character is unaware of what is in the house and therefore doesn't suspect anything whilst the audience already knows what kind of dangers may lie in the house.

A literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Hi Justice,

In its simplest form - have you ever been to a pantomime at Christmas and the main character on stage can't see the person behind them and asks the audience where they are?

"They're behind you!" is the response from the audience and much hilarity is had when they turn around and the person hiding behind them moves out of sight.

This is dramatic irony. When the audience knows things about the story or the characters on stage that the characters do not.

Playwrights use this device a lot to get the audience to feel tension for the characters on stage.

Dramatic irony - where the audience knows something that the characters do not.

When the audience knows something the characters do not.

Dramatic irony is when the audience or reader are aware of the significance of something that the character is not. For example, in 'Macbeth' Lady Macbeth faints upon discovering King Duncan's death. However, we, as the audience, know that moments earlier she was smearing the guards in Duncan's blood! In this instance, this is important because it helps us understand how cunning and deceptive Lady Macbeth is.

Dramatic irony is when the audience of a play, or the reader of a story, knows something that a character in the play or the story, does not know. For example, a character may state, 'I'm really looking forward to getting back to my own house, and my own bed', after being away for two weeks. However, the reader knows that in his absence, his house has been burgled, and turned upside down. The reader knows that his optimism, looking forward to going home, is misplaced.

Dramatic Irony refers to when the audience know something that the characters don’t.

Dramatic irony is a literary device often used in plots of books, plays and films. It describes the situation where the audience (us, the reader) knows more information than some of the characters in the narrative. For example, in Little Red Riding Hood, the audience knows that Red’s “Grandma” is actually the wolf dressed up as her grandma. It created a sense of drama and suspense for the reader/ audience.

Dramatic irony occurs when the reader/ audience is aware of a situation that protagonist is not. An example is in Othello, as the audience is aware of Iago's deception, and Othello is not.

Dramatic irony is when the audience or readers know more about a situation than the characters.

A writer uses dramatic irony when the audience has some information that the characters in the work do not; it is often used to create humour or suspense.