Dramatic irony is typically found within a speech or a situation of drama that is completely understood by the audience, but in contrast the character has limited understanding of his or her situation.
Act IV of Romeo and Juliet has the most intensely choreographed dramatic irony of the entire work. One example of this is when Nurse and Lady Capulet find Juliet unconscious in her bed and believe she is dead. The characters do not have a clear understanding of their situation; whereas the audience has a clear understanding that she has ingested a position to appear dead so that she may later be married to Romeo. This dramatic irony, is only further compounded by Friar's remarks that Juliet has gone to a better place. Again, the characters only believe what they currently see and hear. However, the audience is aware that the Friar supplied the potion and has assisted in orchestrating Juliet to be with Romeo in Mantua (not heaven).
Dramatic irony occurs when a reader or an audience has more information about events of the plot than the characters do. One of the major instances of dramatic irony occurring in act 4 of Romeo and Juliet can be found in Juliet's monologue in scene 3 when she imagines all of the possible ways the friar's plan might go wrong. She is about to drink the potion that will enable her to fake her death when she discusses all of her anxieties surrounding what could happen, from the idea that it will not work at all to the idea that the mixture will actually kill her. Of course the audience knows, as they have known from the prologue of the play, that the friar's plan will not work and that even Juliet's wildest imaginings are not as awful as what will come to pass: Romeo and Juliet both dead. In this instance, dramatic irony both helps to build suspense and underlines the theme of fate throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed," and no amount of fretting or planning on Juliet's part will save them.
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