Question

read the excerpt from act 2 of a dolls house. rank: let me play for her. helmer getting up. yes, do. i can correct her better then. rank sits down at the piano and plays. nora dances more and more wildly. helmer has taken up a position beside the stove, and during her dance gives her frequent instructions. she does not seem to hear him, her hair comes down and falls over her shoulders; she pays no attention to it, but goes on dancing. enter mrs. linde. mrs. linde: standing as if spell - bound in the doorway oh!— nora as she dances such fun, christine! helmer: my dear darling nora, you are dancing as if which statement best describes the dramatic irony in this passage? the audience knows that the tarantella is supposed to be wildly fast, but helmer does not. the audience knows that nora is intentionally failing to dance correctly, but helmer does not. the audience knows that helmer does not know how to dance, but nora does not know this. the audience knows that doctor rank loves nora, but helmer does not know that he does.

Explanation:

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows information that a character does not. In this excerpt from A Doll's House, Nora dances wildly on purpose to distract Helmer from discovering her secret (the forged loan document). The audience understands her intentional, chaotic dancing is a distraction, but Helmer only sees her as dancing poorly and tries to correct her, unaware of her true motive. The other options are incorrect: the audience knows the tarantella is wild (so Helmer likely does too), Helmer is instructing Nora so he knows how to dance, and Doctor Rank's love is not the focus of this specific passage's irony.

Answer:

The audience knows that Nora is intentionally failing to dance correctly, but Helmer does not.