Midsummer Night's Dream Tragedy Scene Analysis

987 Words4 Pages

The Ironic Scenes of Shakespeare’s Famous Play
“Never did mockers waste more idle breath,” cried Helena, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, incorrectly thinking she was being mocked (Shakespeare 3.2 170). This is one of multiple examples of dramatic irony in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows more about a character 's situation than the character does.This is one of three types of irony, the other types are situational and verbal. All these types of irony are used throughout the play, in many different situations.The three main examples of irony in this play, however, are dramatic irony. The use of dramatic irony in A Midsummer Night’s Dream made the play more humorous, interesting, and entertaining to read or watch.

The main example of dramatic irony in A Midsummer Night’s Dream occurs in the middle of the play and it adds chaos and entertainment to the writing. In Act III, Scene II, Helena believed she was being mocked by Demetrius and Lysander. Leading up to the scene, Helena loved Demetrius, but both Lysander and Demetrius loved Hermia. Because Demetrius and Lysander both randomly fell in love with Helena, she was led to believe she was being made fun of. Demetrius and Lysander were also confused because they knew it wasn’t a joke, and they truly loved her (Shakespeare 3.2 125-355). This is an example of dramatic irony because the audience knew something the characters didn’t. The readers knew a love potion was put into both Lysander and

Open Document