Misunderstandings In 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Misunderstandings generate conflict and drive stories forward. William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is a play filled to the brim with misunderstandings and comedic situations. The constable of Messina, Dogberry, contributes to many such comedic situations with his twisted speech and juxtaposing sobriety. In this essay, Dogberry’s reality, character, and wrongly-used phrases are to be compared to actual reality.
In his very first scene, Act 3 Scene 3, Dogberry is telling the guards how to do their job, but all wrong. At one point, the watchmen ask if they are able to sleep so as not to make noise. Dogberry then says, “Sleeping on the watch shouldn’t be a problem; just make sure that your weapons don’t get stolen.” This is a mistake

Instead, Dogberry ends up believing what others say to him, including when Borachio and Conrade both say, “Marry, sir, we say we are none.” However, when a watchman says, “Marry, that he [Borachio] had received a thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully,” thus accusing him to be a criminal, Dogberry also agrees. This is an example of what little thought Dogberry gives when he’s doing his job, and how his appearance of a knowledgeable and powerful constable is just an (unintentional on his part) act to cover up the reality of his irrational thought process. Though Dogberry does take his job very seriously, he just is not very good about picking his words, or his course of action. Per usual, Dogberry uses several malapropisms throughout the scene, such as when he condemns Borachio and Conrade to “everlasting redemption”. Here, assumedly, Dogberry means to use the word ‘damnation’. (Verges also uses this malapropism in Act 3, Scene 3). Most of Dogberry’s malapropisms are intended to portray his sheer inability to speak without them. However, when Dogberry says, “No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness”, he replaces ‘impiety’ with ‘piety’. Impiety and piety are polar opposites, and they reference how one is devout in terms of religion. This could, perhaps, serve as a reference to Borachio and Conrade doing as Don John wishes, and not out of their own desire to sin. Their ‘piety’ might be a reference to that they are devout to God, even after what they have done. After all, as said earlier, Borachio and Conrade said they “hope they serve God”. Dogberry exits the scene with a speech about how even though he falls under many societal labels, he tries his