Dramatic irony

Act 2

This Act opens with the Chorus warning Mi-Jean of Gros Jean’s failed attempt at beating the Devil. Mi- Jean shows contempt at the animals talking to him, man, a superior being. The Chorus leaves the stage as the masked Devil appears as an Old Man on stage. Mi- Jean is startled at this man’s knowledge but he plays it off as common knowledge. There are hints given to the audience that the Old Man is the Devil, through the cloven hoof (of a cow), his song of  the enemy –Death being everywhere on land and sea, and showing his Devil’s mask to the audience when Mi-Jean sings his Song of Silence. Silence does not last long for Mi- Jean as he becomes exasperated with his task of tying the goat and the insulting philosophy of the Devil. Mi-Jean becomes angry and he is trapped by the Devil’s embrace and his own annoyance.

Dramatic Irony

“This involves a situation in a play or a narrative in which the audience or reader shares with the author knowledge of present or future circumstances of which a character is ignorant;  in that situation, the character unknowingly acts in  a way recognized to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances.” From Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abrams, 7th Edition