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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Dramatic Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Packletide’s Status:
In an example of dramatic irony, readers know that Mrs. Packletide did not actually shoot and kill the tiger, while all of the people in her upper-class English social circle believe that she did. (Though Mrs. Packletide killed the tiger in a way, it was only due to the sound of the explosive that he died from a heart attack, not from the actual shot.) The following passage captures the dramatic irony of Mrs. Packletide receiving endless praise and an increase in her social status for something she did not actually do:
Therefore did Mrs Packletide face the cameras with a light heart, and her pictured fame reached from the pages of the Texas Weekly Snapshot to the illustrated Monday supplement of the Novoe Vremya. As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to look at an illustrated paper for weeks, and her letter of thanks for the gift of a tiger-claw brooch was a model of repressed emotions.
As the narrator notes, Mrs. Packletide not only had her picture printed in newspapers from the United States to Russia, but she also achieved what she hoped for most: to make Loona Bimberton jealous (as seen in the combination of Loona's thank you letter and “repressed emotions”). The irony comes from the fact that readers know Mrs. Packletide is not telling the full truth. Of course, there is another person who knows the truth—Louisa Mebbin—and she ultimately blackmails Mrs. Packletide, committing to keep the secret in exchange for a weekend cottage.
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