Final answer:
Dramatic irony shapes and refines the theme that love can blind people to the truth, revealing a character's true nature, and illustrating how pride can prevent finding true love.
Step-by-step explanation:
The dramatic irony in the play shapes and refines the theme that love can blind people to the truth. The use of dramatic irony often highlights how characters are unaware of certain truths about themselves or others, even as the audience grasps the reality of the situation. This device can reveal love's ability to cloud judgment and prevent characters from seeing things as they truly are. For example, a character might be head over heels for another and completely overlook their flaws or the possible consequences of their relationship.
Conversely, in the theme of how love reveals a person's true character, the play might employ dramatic irony to show that under the influence of love, characters reveal certain truths about themselves that they might keep hidden otherwise. It can also be a catalyst for bringing out a character's core traits, whether they are positive, like generosity and kindness, or negative, such as jealousy and possessiveness.
Regarding the notion that pride is an obstacle for finding true love, dramatic irony can underscore the ways in which characters' pride or self-image might interfere with their relationships. As an audience, we see the truth that the characters themselves cannot because of their pride, and this irony can be used to critique or lament such an obstacle in the quest for love.