In Her Big Chance, Lesley is an aspiring actress who believes she is on the verge of a career breakthrough while the audience understands exactly what kind of project she has agreed to join. The gap between her optimism and our awareness is a textbook example of dramatic irony. That clarity makes the monologue ideal for teaching the term and for assessing whether students can use it properly in writing.

Dramatic irony is often defined in one sentence, and students memorize that sentence without understanding how it works on the page. In essays, this shows up as a definition followed by a vague claim that the technique makes the story more interesting. Grading should look for essays that identify specific moments of irony and explain the effect each one creates.

A useful class activity before the essay is to ask students to mark every moment where Lesley believes something the audience doubts. Comparing those marks reveals how much of the humor depends on information Bennett withholds from the speaker but gives to the listener. This shared evidence base makes the later essays easier to evaluate.

Evaluate how well students explain effect

Naming an example of irony is the easy part; explaining why it matters is where essays separate. A strong response considers how the gap produces comedy, how it also generates unease or sympathy, and how those reactions change as the monologue progresses. Weak responses stop at the observation that the audience knows more than Lesley does.

• Identifies at least two distinct moments of dramatic irony with accurate quotations.
• Explains what the audience understands that the speaker does not.
• Describes the effect on tone, such as comedy mixed with discomfort.
• Considers why Bennett chooses a naive speaker rather than a knowing one.
• Avoids confusing dramatic irony with verbal irony or coincidence.

Correct common terminology mistakes

Students frequently blur dramatic irony, situational irony, and sarcasm, especially in the first weeks of a unit. A brief margin note that restates the distinction and points to the correct label for the example in question corrects the error without penalizing the underlying insight. Often the student has noticed something real and simply used the wrong term.

Consider keeping a short glossary of literary terms on the rubric itself, with one example from the monologue for each. Students can check their own use of terminology before submitting, and you spend less time repeating the same correction across the stack. Over the unit, accurate vocabulary becomes a visible sign of growth.

Look for ethical and tonal sophistication

Her Big Chance invites an uncomfortable question about whether the audience is laughing at Lesley or understanding her. Advanced students will notice that the comedy depends on her trusting nature, and that Bennett lets us feel the cost of that trust. Essays that engage this tension deserve recognition, even if their prose is less polished than a more conventional response.

Encourage students to acknowledge complexity rather than reduce Lesley to a joke. A sentence that admits the humor while also noting her vulnerability reflects more mature reading than one that treats her simply as foolish. Rewarding that nuance signals that literary analysis values thoughtful interpretation over quick conclusions.

Make feedback consistent across a large class

Because most essays on this monologue share the same strengths and weaknesses, consistent feedback is both possible and important. If one student is told to explain effect and another with an identical weakness receives only a grade, the difference undermines fairness. Shared comment banks tied to rubric criteria help keep responses aligned.

AI grading assistance fits naturally here because it applies the same criteria to every essay without fatigue. Teachers still read and finalize each response, but the tool can flag where an essay names irony without explaining its effect. That consistency, combined with human review, gives students feedback they can trust.