Dramatic irony occurs in a play when the audience knows facts of which the characters in the play are ignorant. The most sustained example of dramatic irony is undoubtedly Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus searches to find the murderer of the former king of Thebes, only to discover that it is himself, a fact the audience has known all along.
Ben Franklin, that old, bawdy patriarch of America's founding fathers group. He was a very wry, cynical and funny old fellow who very well understood the irony of the task that he and this group of men took upon themselves when they decided to forge the Declaration of Independence, and declare that they were no longer subject to King George, and merry old England. He knew that if they achieved the goal of a country freed from England, that posterity would view them as great countrymen and leaders of their time. To England, and those loyal to her King... they were traitors, rebels, and deserved to hang. And, by the laws at the time, because the American colonies were part of England's territories, and therefore under British law, traitors they were... and that was a crime punishable by death. Good old Ben saw the irony of this, and thought it was funny as hell. Here are a few of Ben's quotes just to give the reader an idea of the very sharp intellect that was Franklin.
"Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing."
"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight."
"God heals, and the doctor takes the fees."
"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."
Samuel Clemens, otherwise better known as Mark Twain was a master of ironic, cynical humor that has always left this author laughing... sometimes to the point of crying. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Twain to show what I mean.
"I have no race prejudice. I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed, I know it. I can stand any society. All that I care to know is that a man is a human being - that is enough for me; he can't be any worse."
"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."