Dogberry as a Humourous Element

In Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”, many different themes are expressed to amplify the plot and general quality of the play. However, the theme targeted here is humour. Homour, similar to comedy, is an amusing quality, however, comedy speaks more extensively as being a happy ending that succeeds the light amusement. The character that bears this essential burden of ‘comic relief’ is Dogberry.

Dogberry is characterized as being a fool. His undeniable misuse of his vocabulary adds in his success of being humourous. According to Princeton’s WordNetWeb, Dogberries “unintentional misuse of a word in confusion with one that sounds similar” is termed malapropism. A functional example is Act 3 Scene 3 (15) “First, who think you the most desertless man to be constable?” It is evident that Dogberry used “desertless” instead of the rightful term “deserving” in its place. His consistent error adds a light upliftment in the midst of the unfortunate events that has been dampening the mood of the characters and by extension the reader. Another example would include Act 3 Scene 5 lines 24-26 Dogberry states “One word sir, our watch have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons, and we will have them this morning examined before your worship.” The mistake made here was the misuse of “auspicious” instead of “suspicious”.

Moreover, Dogberry is what Cliff notes claim to be a “beautifully designed” character.  He comes across to the audience as being at a rudimentary level of thought and is quite fittingly so. This is reflected in his misused vocabulary and in ability to look beyond the simple quirks, for instances being called an “ass”. After being proclaimed such by one of the imprisoned, namely Conrade (Act 4 Scene 2, line 9) “Away, you are an ass, you are an ass”, Dogberry took it upon himself and exclaim his injustice of slander to any listening ear and Leonato was the subsequent victim of this.

Conclusively, the character of Dogberry speaks to a humours element or comic relief, as opposed to the misunderstood comedy. His character keeps the flow of the play balanced to provide a consistent and well execute playwright.