Source: "Much Ado about Signifying," in Studies in English Literature, Vol. 22, No.2, Spring, 1982, pp. 211-21.
[Below, in an excerpt from a larger essay, Dawson examines Dogberry's role in interpreting and expressing messages. The Critic also offers an interesting comparison of Dogberry with Bottom, from A Midsummer Night's Dream.]
Dogberry and Bottom make an interesting contrast. Bottom is involved in drama, he seeks to play all roles, he is transformed in the course of a metadrama which reflects the concern of A Midsummer Night's Dream with metamorphosis and the art of the drama. His blithe unawareness of the conditions and constraints of theatrical "reality" (in contrast to, say, Puck's very sharp awareness) is a large part of his humor. Dogberry, on the other hand, is involved in investigation, in seeking out the truth. His language.....
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