Dramatic Irony In Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare used dramatic irony in each and every one of his comedies, tragedies, and histories. Dramatic irony, a literary device in which the audience knows something that a character or group of characters don’t, is used in this tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Sometimes, we do not understand the irony, but there are at least five examples of this literary device, and they all have to do with death. Dramatic irony is first used conspicuously in Act I, scene v. In this scene, Romeo and his friends have gone to the Capulet feast, even though th