Much Ado About Nothing

Dogberry is the Chief Constable of the Watch, or the Chief of Police, in Messina. Much like the archetypal Elizabethan fool, Dogberry’s main role is to provide comic relief. Here, however, the comic relief is unintentional. Compared to Benedick and Beatrice’s clever punning, Dogberry simply does not know what the correct word to use is, resulting in many malapropisms. This can also be viewed as a class satire – Dogberry is an earnest, middle class man trying to make an honest living and thinks that, by using flowery language, he can become like the nobles.