Question

None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The Republic of the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be with in the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming.
. . . It might be that their lives were hard and that not all of their hopes had been fulfilled; but they were conscious that they were not as other animals. If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical human beings; if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves. No creature among them went upon two legs. No creature called any other creature “Master.” All animals were equal.

–Animal Farm,
George Orwell

How does Orwell use dramatic irony to reveal character?

The text shows that the animals have the spirits of true business owners.
The text shows that the animals distrust humans more than any other species.
The text shows that the animals are completely naive and unaware of their true situation.
The text shows that the animals are hard workers and will soon reap the rewards of their efforts.

Answer 1

The third option. Orwell’s dramatic irony lies in the contrast between the animals’ confident beliefs (no creature will be a “Master,” all animals are equal, they work for themselves) and what the reader later sees happening: the pigs become like the humans they overthrew. That gap — the animals’ naïveté versus the reader’s foreknowledge — reveals their innocence, gullibility, and lack of awareness of the pigs’ growing corruption.