Analyzing Fiction - Point of View and Dramatic Irony

Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told. Most stories are told from either first-person point of view or third-person point of view. “Death by Scrabble” is told in first-person point of view. (Remember, "Heading Home" was told in the rarely seen second-person point of view.)

Sometimes, a writer gives the reader more information than the narrator or a character has. By doing so, the writer creates dramatic irony, a forceful contrast between what the reader knows to be true and what the narrator or character believes.

Have you seen The Lion King? It was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and one of those rare Disney movies that my brothers and I all liked (they weren't usually all about the princesses), which means we ended up watching it A LOT. We even bought the soundtrack and made our mom play it over and over again in the car. I can still sing every word to every song from that movie. I'll spare you a concert. :)

What you might not have realized when you watched that movie as a kid is that it's an excellent example of dramatic irony. I know, I know - that's not a term you're familiar with, but just stick with me here. Read this hilarious comic for a definition of dramatic irony:

Source: theoatmeal.com

The comics below are good examples of dramatic irony as well. We (the audience) see and understand what's about to happen, but the characters do not.

So, how does that apply to The Lion King? Watch this:

And then watch this:

Scar tells Simba that he is responsible for Mufasa's death and convinces Simba that he needs to run away and never return. Simba spends the rest of the movie dealing with the overwhelming, soul-crushing guilt that he caused the stampede that killed his father, never knowing that Scar actually murdered Mufasa and scared Simba off so he could be the king. 

That's dramatic irony. The audience knows all along that Scar is the villain, but Simba never figures it out until the end. And that's important because, as everyone knows, Simba is the rightful king and the only one who can take power back from Scar after he's completely ruined the Pride Lands by over hunting to feed his hyena army.

Now that you know all about dramatic irony, head on over to our Google Classroom page for your assignment!