Romeo arrives at the Capulet family tomb to find his love, Juliet supposedly dead.
However, we the audience know that Juliet is not really dead, she merely took a potion
to make it look like she was dead for her own motives. When the audience of a story
knows more than the characters involved, what type of irony is employed?
a. Verbal Irony
b. Situational Irony
c. Dramatic Irony
c. Dramatic Irony
c. Dramatic Irony
The type of irony employed when the audience knows more than the characters involved is called dramatic irony.
To understand this type of irony, we need to break it down into its components. Irony is a literary device where there is a contrast between what is expected or intended and what actually happens. In this case, the contrast lies in what the audience knows and what the characters in the story know.
In William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet," the audience is aware that Juliet is not really dead, but Romeo believes she is. This creates dramatic irony because the audience has insider knowledge that creates tension and suspense as they watch Romeo's actions unfold, thinking he is mourning the death of his beloved.
To identify dramatic irony in a story or play, you can look for situations where the audience possesses information that the characters do not. This type of irony can be used to create suspense, humor, or other effects depending on the context of the story.
So, in summary, the type of irony employed when the audience knows more than the characters is called dramatic irony. It adds depth and complexity to the storytelling by creating tension and suspense as the audience waits to see how the characters will react to the unknown.