Question

First of all, you need to know what dramatic irony is. Dramatic irony is a technique where the audience and some of the characters know something that the other characters do not. In this particular scene, we see Macduff who enters king Duncan's room, only to find that he has been murdered. Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the audience obviously already know who killed him, but are pretending not to know so as to maintain the appearance of innocence. Macduff doesn't know who killed the King, which is why this is dramatic irony. It is important for Macbeth to pretend he is horrified so that nobody suspects that he was the one who killed Duncan.

Answer 1

The explanation provided discusses dramatic irony within a scene from Macbeth, where Macduff discovers King Duncan's murder.

What happened in the play

The audience and some characters possess knowledge about the murder, creating a contrast between what is known to them and what Macduff, unaware of the killer's identity, perceives.

Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the audience already possess information about the murder but feign ignorance to preserve the illusion of innocence.

Macbeth's pretense of horror is essential to deflect suspicion away from himself as the perpetrator of Duncan's murder. This dramatic irony heightens tension and engages the audience in the characters' conflicting perspectives and hidden truths.