I would argue that there is both situational irony and dramatic irony in Shakespeare's Macbeth in act 1, scene 5. At this point in the play, the audience has learned of the prophecy given to Macbeth by the witches. We learn that he is Thane of Glamis, and the witches prophesy that he will be the Thane of Cawdor. He is confused by this since someone already holds that title. When he learns that the Thane of Cawdor is to be executed and that King Duncan is giving him the title, he realizes "the greatest is behind," meaning two parts of the prophecy have already come true, leaving only the final proclamation that Macbeth will be king. Macbeth is not in the direct line to the throne, so it's still a mystery how Macbeth will become king.
Herein lies the situational irony. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hatch a plot to kill King Duncan in order to make the prophecy come true. The title of Thane of Cawdor came to Macbeth through his honor and valor, not by his human efforts to make it happen. The audience would expect a similar outcome for the rest of the prophecy, but that's not what happens. This is a dramatic turn from the character Macbeth has displayed until this scene. Situational irony is a literary device in which there is a disparity between what happens and what is expected to happen. Here is the quote from the scene where Lady Macbeth asks spirits for help in carrying out the evil plan of murdering King Duncan:
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!
There is also dramatic irony in this scene, as readers get clues to the plot to kill Duncan, but the other characters in the play are completely unaware of the scheme. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that characters in the book or play do not know.
In act 1, scene 5 of Macbeth there is an example of what's called dramatic irony. This is where the audience knows something that one of the characters doesn't. Lady Macbeth has already resolved to have Duncan murdered; her husband must be king. But she doesn't want to give anything away; Duncan is going to be lulled into a false sense of security. Duncan will get the full red carpet treatment at Inverness, a reception fit for a king. But he'll never get out alive. Of that, Lady Macbeth is absolutely certain:
O, never Shall sun that morrow see!
Poor Duncan will never see the light of day. Macbeth knows it, Lady Macbeth knows it, and we know it too. But Duncan doesn't, hence the dramatic irony. He's walking straight into a gigantic trap, and he's blissfully unaware of it.
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