Act 3 Scene 3

What is the serious social problem underlying the satire on dogberry and his all-volunteer watch?

Dogberry is a man of a low social class who thinks himself better than his peers; this is often seen in his pure ignorance and arrogant nature.  He enjoys the authority and responsibility placed upon him when he is in charge on the watchmen and the constant idolising manner then Verges entreats him to. The volunteer watch are as low class as Dogberry and they are perceived to be almost as dim-witted as Dogberry and Verges, they follow is every command  without giving it a second thought as he is the figure of authority amongst the men. This only enhances the comic relief as the men as most ridiculous in the way they are easily lead and confused.

Why does dogberry utter so many malapropisms? Identify three such misuses of words.

Dogberry attempts to portray himself as intelligent by complicating his language to impress his peer and to enforce his authority over the many watchmen. ‘Desertless’ is supposed to be Deserving; ‘senseless’ is a malapropism of sensible and ‘tolerable’ in place of intolerable.

What seems to be dogberry’s primary concern in his instructions to the volunteer watchmen?

Dogberry’s primary concern appears to be the approach of thieves and strangers as they are to be left alone as they could cause more problems for the watchmen. He advises them to let them pass to protect the watchmen as untold dangers could become an issue. This leaves the watchmen being able to sleep on the job as it requires the advised amount of effort and attention.

How are the watchmen able to discover what Borachio has done? How much do they understand of what they’ve found out?

The watchmen are assumed to be asleep and the drunken Borachio and Conrade pay little attention to them before discussing and an audible level there involvement in the crime against Hero. The watchmen however only understand their slander of Don John (the prince’s brother) as they refer to him as villainous in his evil ploy against Don Pedro and Count Claudio.

From what we learn from Borachio’s account of the deception how was he able to fool the prince and Claudio?

Borachio was able to deceive the prince and Claudio by pretending to be a man in Hero’s chamber the night before her wedding, this is however untrue as the Lady Hero was elsewhere and Margaret was in fact the lady at the window being wooed by Borachio, for the sole purpose of being seen by Claudio and for him to believe that Margaret was the Lady Hero forcing him to break his affections for her.