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I have the following GRE question.

Instructions: Fill in the blank.

_____ is achieved when the audience is made aware of a disparity between the facts of a situation and the characters understanding of it.

Which of the following will correctly complete line 1?

A) Aesthetic distance B) Dramatic irony C) Comic relief D) The pathetic fallacy E) The dissociation of sensibility

Right answer is B, but I don't understand why. I thought it was Aesthetic distance because the context shows a clear gap between reality which is the facts of a situation and the characters, and psychological perception which is the characters' understanding of it. Can someone explain why it is Dramatic irony?

TheMathNoob
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  • That is art by definition, not context. "Dramatic irony" is a literary device and you can find its definition on the net. https://www.britannica.com/art/dramatic-irony – wordsalad Aug 25 '17 at 02:27
  • These are all technical terms from literary criticism; the question tests your knowledge of that field, so you can't just guess what they might mean. – StoneyB on hiatus Aug 25 '17 at 03:10
  • @wordsalad: I think the root cause of OP's issue is not his understanding of the meaning of dramatic irony and aesthetic distance, but rather that he has wrongly interpreted the question (statement) itself. That problem cannot be solved by looking at the definitions for the options. If the question doesn't make sense, neither do the options (in the context of answering the question, even if the options themselves are clearly understood) – Flater Aug 25 '17 at 10:29
  • If you know the definition, this question will be easy. If you have aesthetic ignorance to the fact that you are expected to know the definition, you won’t score a point in taking tests. That's dramatic irony. Aesthetic indifference may not help you get credit unless you’re in class, but once you get in the class, your aesthetic distance might get you further with your study. You can pass the test first. – wordsalad Aug 25 '17 at 12:57

1 Answers1

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Aesthetic distance refers to the fact that the viewer (out of universe) and the character (in universe) do not necessarily know the same things. This works in both directions:

  • The viewer knows who the killer is, but the protagonist cop does not.
  • The protagonist cop knows his own past (e.g. a traumatic event), but the viewer is not yet made aware of this event that took place prior to the current story.

Dramatic irony refers to the fact that there can be a discrepancy between the (in-universe) objective truth and the (in-universe) character's belief about what is true.
Irony inherently requires a juxtaposition, i.e. (seemingly) contradictory things.

edit
Dramatic irony has more definitions than the one I just listed. But this definition is the only one that is relevant to my answer, so I'm omitting the others as they would only complicate the answer for no good reason.

An example:
An ex-convict, who we know is allied with the protagonist, is fighting an evil demon. The demon has taken the shape of a child. The ex-convict finally gets the upper hand and is close to defeating the demon.
Suddenly, a police officer walks by. What he sees is a bad guy (evil) attacking an innocent child (good), and the police officer points his gun at the ex-convict, because he tries to save the child. His notion of good and evil is reversed (juxtaposed) from the actual truth.

_____ is achieved when the audience is made aware of a disparity between the facts of a situation and the characters understanding of it

I think your interpretation of the question hinges on your interpretation of disparity. At face value, you are correct:

Disparity

A great difference.

A difference sounds semantically close to a distance, which would lead you to believe that the question is referring to aesthetic distance.

However, a juxtaposition is also a form of disparity. Disparity basically means "not being equal" (dis-parity = "non-equality", loosely speaking). Logically speaking, completely contradictory elements are also vastly different from one another.

Looking only at the word "disparity" could lead you to consider both aesthetic distance and dramatic irony as valid options.

But you should also focus on the rest of the question:

a disparity between the facts of a situation and the character's understanding of it

Aesthetic distance inherently refers to a difference between the viewer (out of universe) and the character (in universe).

But the question is focusing on two things that are both in universe (the actual truth, and a character's belief).

Therefore, aesthetic distance cannot be a correct answer. But dramatic irony still fits the bill, since dramatic irony can focus on two in universe elements.

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