What Role Does Dogberry Play In “Much Ado About Nothing”?

Dogberry is a constable, appointed by the governer of Messina to keep the peace and organise the night-watchmen. In fact he is the Elizabethan equivalent of a policeman, though he seems rather unsure of his duties. He advises the watchmen that they may order suspicious characters to stop "In the prince's name" but that if they won't stop they should be allowed to leave; for if he will not heed the prince's name he can't be a subject, "and we are to meddle with none but the prince's subjects." Dogberry's muddled thinking is reflected in his language; he mixes up words, thinking "tedious" is a compliment, and confusing "damnation" with "redemption." It is therefore surprising that it is Dogberry, in his slow, bumbling way, who with his colleagues discovers a plot against a friend of the prince, and eventually manages to bring the perpetrators to justice. As one of them remarks, "What your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light."

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