What is dramatic irony?

Dramatic irony is when the audience of the text knows something that the character(s) don't. An example of this is in Harry Potter. The troll goes into the girls' bathroom. Hermione doesn't know the troll is in there, but Harry, Ron, and the audience do.

Dramatic irony is when the writer provides the audience or reader with some information the characters do not know. For example, the play 'Romeo and Juliet' opens with a prologue outlining a brief summary of the entire story: "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life..." This means that we, as the audience, are aware right from the start that this is a tragedy, not a romantic tale with a happy love-ever-after ending. In some ways this seems like an odd thing to do, but Shakespeare knew exactly what he was doing. Knowing what is going to happen in advance (dramatic irony), the whole way through the play the audience is on the edge of their seats asking the question - how do they die? This raises the tension, ensuring audience engagement until the sad and bitter end.

Hi Justice! Dramatic irony is a theatrical term used to define a moment on stage when the audience knows more than one or some of the characters in a scene. An example of this would be in An Inspector Calls, when Arthur Birling is talking about the Titanic being an 'unsinkable' ship. The contemporary audience of the play would have experienced dramatic irony as the play was written AFTER the Titanic famously sank on its maiden voyage. As students of Literature over 100 years later, we also know this!

Dramatic irony is a plot device mainly used in films, plays, novels and short stories. It occurs when the audience or reader (of a movie, play, book etc.) knows something the character doesn’t.

This can be as simple as the ‘Look behind you!’ moment in a children's pantomime (when a character doesn’t know a monster is creeping up on them) or as poignant as the final scene in Romeo and Juliet (when Romeo finds Juliet seemingly dead and kills himself in grief – the irony being that the audience knows she has only taken a sleeping potion).

Dramatic irony is a useful device for creating suspense or humour in a story.

A literary technique that is often used to include an event in a story contrary to what was expected to happen by either the main character or the audience/reader. This helps to build humour and/or suspense within the text. Shakespeare often uses dramatic irony to build tension towards the circumstances surrounding his tragic heroes!

Have you read Romeo and Juliet? or maybe watched a play based on it ?The tragic ending of their iconic story is an embodiment of dramatic irony.We, the audience, knows that lovers are both alive however, neither of them knows that the other is still alive.Each lover drink their poison without knowing what the audience knows.This is a great example of dramatic irony.

Dramatic Irony Occurs when a character such as Macbeth acts or speaks in a manner which is clear to an audience but the character ( Macbeth) does not see the significance of.

Dramatic irony occurs when an audience knows something about a character's actions or an event, but the characters do not. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows that Juliet is only asleep (not dead) but Romeo does not and he kills himself.

Simply put dramatic irony is when the audience is aware of something the main character ignores at this stage of the play. For example, in An Inspector Calls Mr Birling exclaims the "unsinkable Titanic" and the "Germans do not want war". The audience of the 1945 already knows about the Titanic sunk, and they have the knowledge and experience of the two world wars.

Dramatic irony is when the audience know something that the characters they are watching don't know - for example, at the end of Romeo and Juliet, we know that Juliet is alive when Romeo thinks she's dead.

Hello! Dramatic irony is a literary technique used by many famous playwrights such as Priestley and Shakespeare. It is officially defined as when an audience knows more than the characters on stage.

Dramatic irony is a literary technique whereby the audience or reader knows or understands something about a character's words or actions when the character themselves does not. Essentially, the audience is in the know and the character isn't. For example, in the film Snow White, we know that the evil queen is plotting to kill her using a poisonous apple but Snow White herself does not know this.

Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience/reader knows something that the character does not. An example of this is when in An Inspector Calls, Mr Birling says the Titanic is 'absolutely unsinkable'. This is Dramatic irony as we, as an audience are aware that the Titanic does in fact sink.

Hi Justice,

Dramatic irony is where you as a reader/audience are aware of information that the character/characters are unaware of. For example, in Othello, the audience is aware of Iago's hatred towards the protagonist Othello however, Othello is completely naive to this and sees Iago as an entrusted friend. In essence, using this technique adds suspense amongst the audience.

Dramatic irony is a technique that was originally used within plays, but is also used in movies now, where something is known or obvious to the audience but not to the characters within the play. For example, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience are told at the beginning of the play from the prologue that a 'pair of star-crossed lovers take their life'. From this the audience now knows that at some point a couple will end up dying but this not known by any characters in the play who think they are all going to live happily ever after. This creates drama throughout the play as the audience do not know when to expect the deaths.