Here's how it works:
* The audience is aware of information that a character is not. This creates a sense of suspense and anticipation, as the audience knows what is going to happen, but the character does not.
* The character's actions often seem foolish or naive because they are unaware of the true situation.
* This can create humor or heighten the tension depending on the context of the story.
Examples of dramatic irony:
* In Shakespeare's *Romeo and Juliet*, the audience knows that Juliet is only pretending to be dead, but Romeo does not. This leads to his tragic decision to take his own life.
* In the movie *The Sixth Sense*, the audience knows that Malcolm Crowe is a ghost from the beginning, but he does not realize it until the end of the film.
Dramatic irony is a powerful tool that can be used to engage the audience and create a more complex and nuanced understanding of the story.