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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
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis—The Secret History:
The prologue of The Secret History introduces the novel as a frame story leading up to the moment of Bunny's murder. Because the frame story reveals that Bunny will be murdered, the novel is infused with dramatic irony, since the characters themselves don't know this for the majority of the novel:
The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He’d been dead for ten days before they found him, you know… I have only to glance over my shoulder for all those years to drop away and I see it behind me again […] I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.
What makes The Secret History different from other murder mysteries or thrillers is that the author reveals the victim, the murderer, and the method on the very first page of the novel. As a result, the prologue sets up the plot as a frame story designed to illustrate the motive. Richard is the sole narrator of this tumultuous year at Hampden College, though he tells the story from several years in the future.
This prologue establishes that Richard and the other students will murder Bunny. While the reader knows this, the other characters do not for the majority of the novel, creating dramatic irony. The reader's advance knowledge of the ending adds a darker and more psychological tone to the novel that is more focused on the reason than the murder itself. The dramatic irony also makes the reader wary—just because they know how it ends does not mean they know how it happened.
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