victim. We know this, but he doesn't, making the above remarks a classic example of dramaticirony.

Once Duncan's walked across the threshold, never to return, further irony is to be had when the doomed king greets Lady Macbeth with wholehearted expressions of love:

See, see, our honored hostess!
The love that follows us sometime is our trouble
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you
How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains
And thank us for your trouble. (I, vi, 11-15)

Not only is Inverness Castle, the place where Duncan will soon be murdered, a pleasant place with sweet air, but the woman chiefly responsible for his murder is someone that Duncan loves.

Dramatic irony is a form of irony most often found in plays. Like all forms of irony, dramatic irony juxtaposes mismatched or contrary ideas. In the case of dramatic irony, a character on stage will say and/or do something that indicates to the audience that the character does not know something the audience knows.

A great example from another Shakespeare play is the ending of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo finds Juliet's body in the tomb, but he hasn't received the message that she took something that only makes her appear to be dead. Romeo thinks she is dead, and he stabs himself. Juliet wakes up immediately after and then also kills herself when she sees Romeo is dead. Romeo's grief and suicide are examples of dramatic irony because the horrified audience knows that Juliet is not actually dead, but the character Romeo is unaware. There is a mismatched or contradictory sense of the truth or reality of Juliet's death between the character and the audience.

The scene in Macbeth in which Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle is another perfect example of dramatic irony. In the first act of the play, we have learned that Macbeth fought and led nobly in battle and is being awarded a kind of promotion as Thane of Cawdor. His King, Duncan, honors him by deciding to come stay at his castle. Meanwhile, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches on the heath after battle and learn Macbeth is to become king one day. Macbeth has already written to Lady Macbeth, his wife, and the two are planning to murder Duncan so Macbeth can be king right away. When Duncan arrives in act 1, scene 6, he says,

This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.

Duncan's innocent remarks on how "pleasant" the castle's environs seem are ironic considering his hosts have been planning to murder him in the previous scene. Duncan has no idea, of course, that he will be killed in this "sweet" manor, but the audience knows of the Macbeths' plan. Duncan goes on to compliment his "fair hostess," Lady Macbeth, who has engineered the plan for his murder, and to say he "loves" his host, Macbeth. Clearly, Duncan is clueless to his fate. The audience immediately catches the irony in Duncan's mood, his level of comfort, and his attitude toward his hosts, since we know they are about to murder him to take his position.