Dramatic irony
A situation where a character or audience possesses information unknown to other characters, creating divergence between appearance and reality, often with humorous or tragic effect.
Real World
In Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', the audience knows Juliet is merely drugged when Romeo finds her in the tomb — this knowledge makes Romeo's despairing suicide unbearably tense, because we can see the catastrophic misunderstanding he cannot.
Exam Focus
Specify what the audience knows that the character does not, then explain the emotional effect (tension, pathos, irony) this gap creates.
How well did you know this?