Dramatic Irony: Knowing What the Characters Don’t

Dramatic irony is a literary device in which the audience knows something the characters of a story don’t.

A story can create engagement by relying on narrative drive: making us curious about what happens next.

However, if we know the ending, the author can make us wonder how the events unfold.

This is pulled from the plays of ancient Greeks, who didn’t believe that knowing the ending of a story will spoil it. Most of their tragedies revolved around mythic heroes, whose fates were well-known.

What makes these stories tick instead is dramatic irony. It’s about the journey, not the destination.