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Dramatic irony is one of the most common literary devices – but what is correct? The simplest explanation is that it is a dramatic irony when the audience learns something before the character does, creating tension and tension. One blend of theatrical tragedies, now it happens in many genres. Read this guide to find out more about dramatic irony, including examples of its use in books and films and tips for use in your writing.
Dramatic irony is a kind of irony in which a viewer or reader learns something before the characters in the story work. Because of this, the audience experiences tension and anticipation as they wait for the discovery of this information. It can be used in many genres to create various effects, from fear to humor.
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Study famous examples of dramatic irony. Check out performances, books and movies that use dramatic irony to a great tragic or humorous effect. Record the audience or the reader learning information, how they feel before discovering and how detection affects the story. Look for samples and use them to inspire your own discovery.
Consider how dramatic irony works with your genre. Through genres, dramatic irony gets used to different effects.[21]
Think about what kind of story you write about and how dramatic irony can act in it. For example, if it is a horror story or tragedy, use a dramatic irony to build tension and sense of helplessness. There are more examples below.- In tragedies, dramatic irony makes the audience feel helpless and frustrated because their knowledge could help the characters to avoid their terrible destinies – if they only knew the truth before.
- In horror stories, dramatic irony builds tension and anticipation while the audience is waiting for the victims to unintentionally encounter traps or attacks that the audience knows to come.
- In comedies, dramatic irony sets ridiculous misunderstandings, allowing the audience to laugh with the characters when experiencing confusion or humiliation as a result of knowledge that has not yet been discovered.
- In romance, dramatic irony increases the tension when the audience is aware of the sense of one character to another, but does not know when or will she admit her love.
Use the structure and position to set up dramatic irony. For example, tell your story from a villain point of view to create a dramatic irony by informing the audience what the evil is waiting for the heroes. If you write from an omniscient standpoint, structure certain events so that the reader learns things before the characters do so.[22]
- Dramatic irony is not always what is best for the story. At some moments, it’s okay to keep information from your reader or audience, as well as characters, so the shock reveals them unexpectedly hit them.[23]
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Careful resolution time. Consider the best time to discover information with the characters the audience already knows. Find a balance between creating tension and maintenance of plot that flows a normal pace. Too much unfulfilled anticipation could cause readers to be excluded.[24]
- In the tragedy, characters often do not reveal the truth until it is near the end of the story. In other works, the discovery may come shortly after the audience finds out information, such as a horror movie where we only see the killer a few moments before the victim did so.
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