Which device occurs when the audience knows more than a character, creating tension or irony?

Which device occurs when the audience knows more than a character, creating tension or irony?

• A. Dramatic irony
• B. Meter
• C. Rhyme schemes
• D. Poetry

Answer: (A)

Dramatic irony happens when the audience knows more than a character, and that gap between what we know and what the character believes or does creates tension and often irony as events unfold. This device is common in plays and stories, where the audience anticipates outcomes the character cannot see. For example, in a mystery, we may know who the culprit is while the detective does not, or in a tragedy, we might understand a prophecy that the character ignores. The other terms describe features of poetry or form—meter is the rhythm pattern of a line, rhyme schemes are about end rhymes, and poetry is the broader literary form—not a device that specifically uses the audience’s extra knowledge to generate suspense.

Dramatic irony happens when the audience knows more than a character, and that gap between what we know and what the character believes or does creates tension and often irony as events unfold. This device is common in plays and stories, where the audience anticipates outcomes the character cannot see. For example, in a mystery, we may know who the culprit is while the detective does not, or in a tragedy, we might understand a prophecy that the character ignores. The other terms describe features of poetry or form—meter is the rhythm pattern of a line, rhyme schemes are about end rhymes, and poetry is the broader literary form—not a device that specifically uses the audience’s extra knowledge to generate suspense.