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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
Key Examples in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Magic Flute:
In Chapter 9, Rick hunts down Luba Luft onstage at the opera house. This scene's extended allusion to Mozart's opera The Magic Flute employs dramatic irony:
Now Papageno in his fantastic pelt of bird feathers had joined Pamina to sing words which always brought tears to Rick’s eyes, when and if he happened to think about it.
Könnte jeder brave Mann
solche Glöckchen finden,
seine Feinde würden dann
ohne Mühe schwinden.
Well, Rick thought, in real life no such magic bells exist that make your enemy effortlessly disappear. Too bad. And Mozart, not long after writing The Magic Flute, had died—in his thirties—of kidney disease. And had been buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Unsuspecting Android:
In Chapter 11, after Polokov is revealed to be an android, Phil Resch decides that he, Rick, and Inspector Garland all need their humanity tested. He leaves Rick and Garland briefly alone for a scene that involves several layers of dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What will tests on the three of us show?” Rick asked.
Garland said, “That damn fool Resch.”
“He actually doesn’t know?”
“He doesn’t know; he doesn’t suspect; he doesn’t have the slightest idea. Otherwise he couldn’t live out a life as a bounty hunter, a human occupation—hardly an android occupation.”
Related Themes:
