The carnivalized rhetoric of the first-act conversation of Dogberry's malapropisms in Much Ado About Nothing provides material resistance to the operations of the law and the hegemony of its official language. Dogberry in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing is a constable. He is a precursor of Mrs Malaprop in his gift for misapplying words. In the play Leonato's amused (or perhaps just exasperated) reply only prompts a flow of time-wasting verbiage:
LEONATO All thy tediousness on me, ah?
DOGBERRY Yea, an 'twere a thousand pound more than 'tis, for I hear as good exclamation on your worship as of any man in the city, and though I be but a poor man, I am glad to hear it. (Zimer 22-26)
As Sheldon P. Zitner has noted, Dogberry "mistakes the word "tedious" for a compliment." And Dogberry's laboring of the subject of wealth in his responses indicates that he is confusing "tedious" with a word meaning "rich" But (as I hope to show), not until we have identified the specific adjective that Dogberry has in mind are we in a position to appreciate the full humor of the dialogue.
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