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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 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Act 2, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—Lost Souls:
In Act 2, Scene 5, the Friar attempts once more to convince Giovanni that he must turn away from his sinful path of destruction. However, in a moment of situational irony, just as the Friar is about to finish stating his point, Giovanni cuts him off to make a statement of his own:
Friar: Why, leave her yet.
The throne of mercy is above your trespass.
Yet time is left you both –
Giovanni: To embrace each other;
Else let all time be struck quite out of number.
She is like me, and I like her, resolved.
Friar: No more; I’ll visit her. This grieves me most:
Things being thus, a pair of souls are lost.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Lost Souls:
In Act 2, Scene 5, the Friar attempts once more to convince Giovanni that he must turn away from his sinful path of destruction. However, in a moment of situational irony, just as the Friar is about to finish stating his point, Giovanni cuts him off to make a statement of his own:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Friar: Why, leave her yet.
The throne of mercy is above your trespass.
Yet time is left you both –
Giovanni: To embrace each other;
Else let all time be struck quite out of number.
She is like me, and I like her, resolved.
Friar: No more; I’ll visit her. This grieves me most:
Things being thus, a pair of souls are lost.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—I'm Confirmed!:
For the majority of Act 3, Scene 2, Giovanni listens from an overhead balcony—his presence known only to the audience—as Soranzo attempts to woo Annabella. This is a perfect moment of dramatic irony, as Soranzo bares his heart to not only the woman he professes to love, but to her brother (and lover) as well:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Soranzo: Have you not will to love?
Annabella: Not you.
Soranzo: Whom then?
Annabella: That’s as the Fates infer.
Giovanni [Aside]: Of those I’m regent now.
Soranzo: What mean you, sweet?
Annabella: To live and die a maid.
Soranzo: Oh, that’s unfit.
Giovanni [Aside]: Here’s one can say that’s but a woman’s note.
Soranzo: Did you but see my heart, then would you swear –
Annabella: That you were dead.
Giovanni [Aside]: That’s true, or somewhat near it.
Soranzo: See you these true love’s tears?
Annabella: No.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Brother's Love:
Following Annabella’s collapse and the subsequent discovery of her pregnancy, Giovanni brings the Friar to check on his sister. In a moment of dramatic irony, Florio ignorantly interprets his son’s actions as a sign of his pure-hearted brotherly love for his equally pure (and, more specifically, virginal) sister:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Giovanni: Sir, with what speed I could, I did my best
To draw this holy man from forth his cell
To visit my sick sister, that with words
Of ghostly comfort in this time of need
He might absolve her, whether she live or die.
Florio: ’Twas well done, Giovanni: thou herein
Hast showed a Christian’s care, a brother’s love.
Related Themes:
