What is dramatic irony?

Hi there, this is where the audience knows more than the character on the stage or screen. Remember going to the pantomime when you were young? You may have shouted at the hero to warn them - "He's behind you....." as the villain is quietly creeping up on them. The audience can see the evil villain but our helpless and hapless hero can't. That's dramatic irony!!

Dramatic irony is a storytelling feature where the audience is aware of something that a character is not. For example, the main character in the story may be talking to someone who they assume is telling the truth, but the audience knows that the other character is lying.

Dramatic irony is when in a play, book, movie/show (any text, really), the audience is presented with information that the characters themselves are not aware of. This, of course, can manifest in various ways, however a simple example would be a perpetrator entering a room and not knowing where their potential victim is - and the audience can see that they are hiding in the closet. Another example is the audience being aware that the Titanic is about to sink and has hit an iceberg significantly before the main characters are informed.

A situation. when the rearer or audience know more than the characters in the story.

Dramatic Irony is a literary device used particularly in Shakespearean plays. Authors use it to create suspense and tension in the play, seldom times, and also to bring in conflict. Dramatic irony occurs when readers or audiences know more details of the plot than the characters, which gives more power to the readers than the ones taking part in the play. Audiences start speculating the storyline and also start making predictions about the events in the play. For instance, in Act 1 Scene 3 of Macbeth, the witches address Macbeth as the 'Thane of Cawdor'. The readers are aware of this fact already because, in Act 1 Scene 3, Duncan had already decreed Ross to award the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth.