# Dogberry — Much Ado About Nothing character guide

> Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dogberry Yea, Dogberry Goodman Verges

**First appearance:** 0012-act-iii-scene-iii

## Snapshot

Messina's self-important constable, whose mangled vocabulary and majestic incompetence somehow stumble toward the truth everyone else has missed.

## Who they are

Dogberry commands the night watch with a solemnity wildly out of proportion to his wits, issuing charges about vagrom men and thanking God he is rid of knaves. He is the play's great comic engine, but his bumbling interrogation of Borachio and Conrade accidentally uncovers the plot against Hero. Shakespeare gives the fool the last word on the wise, and the audience the last laugh.

## In the story

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-iii)

Gives the Watch a comically inept charge, then instructs them to watch Leonato's door before leaving.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-v)

Attempts to report the capture of two 'aspicious persons' but is long-winded and confusing.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-ii)

Presides over the examination of the prisoners, comically misusing language and insisting on his authority.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i)

Brings the prisoners and comically insists on being remembered as an ass.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/characters/dogberry
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/much_ado_about_nothing_se/characters