We’ve all been there: you’re casually chatting with a friend or family member when, out of the corner of your eye, you spy someone else—another friend or family member—attempting to sneak up on them. They raise a finger to their lips to make sure you don’t blab—they may even hunch over or begin to tiptoe as they close in on their target. Now in on the joke, you turn your attention to the unsuspecting victim, trying not to give the surprise away as the invader gets closer. . . closer. . . and ATTACKS!
In those brief but excruciating moments of anticipation before the “attack,” you begin to understand the powerful emotional responses generated by dramatic irony. While all forms of irony involve something that disrupts, upsets, or surprises people’s expectations, dramatic irony is unique because it involves the audience. In dramatic irony, the “audience” in a situation knows something that some of its “characters” do not. In the scenario described above, you knew that your family member was going to get a surprise hug from behind. As the “audience,” you sat eagerly awaiting that result. Your excitement—the intended effect of the dramatic irony—happened because you felt a bit of what they would be experiencing well before they possibly could.
In the sample scenario, you could have warned your companion. However, true dramatic irony keeps the audience powerless to change the fate of the characters, and this sense of powerlessness intensifies the irony’s effect. For example, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves shows its audience a scene where the Evil Queen creates a poison apple. Soon after, the Evil Queen offers this same apple to Snow White while disguised as an old woman. Young children may cry out or warn the princess as she raises the apple to her lips, as they are often deeply affected by the suspenseful dramatic irony.
An important aspect of dramatic irony is the setup—the information that the audience is given that creates the foundation for dramatic irony. In the Snow White example, the Evil Queen’s poison-apple plot could be considered the setup. Take a look at the six setups presented below. For each setup, determine what you would do to “complete” the dramatic irony. Click each slide’s Show Me button to compare your examples to ours.
A movie about mountain-climbing shows the audience that one of its character’s ropes is frayed. What would the movie show next?
A generous diner signs her restaurant bill, leaving her server a $10,000 tip. What event would create the strongest sense of dramatic irony for readers or viewers?
The killer in a horror movie hides in the young protagonist’s closet. What might happen next to really increase the suspense?
Navi cheats on his math test and gets an A+ on it. What plot development would make this situation seem particularly unjust?
Farouqua writes a love letter to her crush Gerard but forgets to sign it. What might happen next to create dramatic irony?
Lois Lane gushes to her co-worker, Clark Kent, about her recent run-in with Superman. Where is the dramatic irony in this situation?
