Dramatic irony occurs when the reader has more information about what is happening or what may unfold in the story before the character or characters. The reader may know that the character is dependent on untrustworthy people, even his enemies, or that he is taking a step towards the wrong solution, but the main character or the other characters within the story may not be aware of the facts.

Dramatic irony is viewed by most writers as the most powerful means of maintaining readers’ interest in the story by creating a contrast between the character’s current situation and the action that will unfold.

As a literary tool, dramatic irony not only puts the reader in a superior position, but also encourages their curiosity, hopes, and fears about when and if the character will discover the truth within the events or situations of the story. . Sometimes the dramatic irony of the truth can be hidden in the backstories of the characters; at other times, it may arise from a misunderstanding between the characters. So you can lurk inside a hoax that the reader knows about but the main character doesn’t.

A less effective dramatic irony also occurs when the character knows something the reader does not. Even if this outline creates curiosity as to why a certain character is behaving in a strange way, if it is taken too far and not skillfully handled, it can easily attract the reader.

During ancient times, dramatic irony appeared in Greek and Roman literature in plays when the choir or a narrator spoke to the audience and informed people of facts that the characters in the play were not aware of. Perhaps because of this, dramatic irony is also called tragic irony, although dramatic irony is not necessarily tragic.

In modern times, this style of informing the reader is accomplished on stage by a character speaking “apart” or by a narrator as in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” or by the emcee as in the movie “Cabaret.” .

The most widely used example of dramatic irony is that of ancient Greece in Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King. Oedipus does not know that it was he who unknowingly killed his own father and committed incest with his own mother. When Oedipus tells his brother-in-law, Creon, that a man is a fool if he believes he can sin against his family and escape the wrath of the gods, the audience understands the scope and effect of Oedipus’s words better than he himself. Oedipus.

Dramatic irony plays an important role in the success of many of Shakespeare’s plays. For example: in The Merchant of Venice, the audience knows that Lancelot is cheating on his father; in Tempestad, Miranda does not know that Gonzalo is on the island, but Prospero and the public do; in Macbeth, Duncan is unaware of Macbeth’s plans, but the public does; in Othello, the public is aware of Iago’s deception, but Othello is not; and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Two Knights of Verona, the misunderstandings between the characters are obvious to the audience, but not to the characters.

George Orwell uses dramatic irony in Animal Farm through the difference of what animals are aware of and what readers recognize. The reader knows that the pigs have used the money from Boxer’s sale to the horse slaughterhouse to buy whiskey.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, readers already know that Elizabeth doesn’t care about Darcy. Then Darcy also learns of that fact when Elizabeth rejects his proposal. When Emma, ​​in Jane Austen’s Emma, ​​again plays with the lives of the people around her, the readers know her intentions, but the characters in the novel do not.

In most historical stories, because readers know the historical facts, they can be ahead of the characters who live within the stories. One of those heartbreaking magazines belongs to Anne Frank.

With his world-class thrillers, Dean Koontz also creates great suspense and captivates his readers by staging and superimposing sensational events that readers understand in advance but characters do not.

In the television series Smallville, which features episodes of Superman, teenage Clark Kent is unaware of his background and what Lex Luthor will mean to him in the future, while viewers are already familiar with these facts.

Active participation and expectations from readers and audiences always increase the intensity and drive the advancement of any story. Therefore, a writer who wants to keep his readers alert must not neglect the tool of dramatic irony.