Question

Which question can a reader ask themselves to help detect dramatic irony?

• What have / learned that at least one character does not know?
What kind of conflict can I predict based on the actions of the characters so far?
• What do the characters know that they have not yet revealed to me?
• What do I expect to happen that at least one character hopes will not?

Answer 1

Answer: "What have I learned that at least one character does not know?"

Why: dramatic irony depends on a knowledge gap between reader/audience and one or more characters — the audience knows something important the character(s) do not. The other options describe different reading strategies: predicting conflict is about foreshadowing, asking what characters know that you don't is the opposite (withholding information), and expecting something a character hopes won’t happen is anticipation but not necessarily a knowledge gap.

Quick example: if you (the reader) know a character is walking into a trap but the character does not, that situation is dramatic irony.