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Narratology & storytelling

Dramatic irony

A gap in knowledge in which the audience knows something that a character does not.

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something a character does not. A confident promise can become alarming when readers already know about the danger the speaker has overlooked.

The gap can create suspense, sympathy or comedy. Its effect depends on when the audience receives the information and how long the character remains unaware. The narrator does not need to sound sarcastic for dramatic irony to work.

Example

Readers have seen the thief hide the key. The guard then entrusts the door to this 'honest man'.

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