[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-135549-en":3,"doc-seo-135549-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":84},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},135549,7971461741311,"Ophelia","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826",2,"Literature","Dog’s Day - Natural Folly and Subversion in Much Ado About Nothing","This essay argues that Shakespeare’s natural fools, clowns, rustics, and buffoons function beyond comic relief, exposing folly inside social and institutional structures. Through Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, it shows how allowing fools to unsettle their clownish stereotype and move outside normal social spheres enables theatrical critique. The analysis centers on language, especially malapropisms, and on how theatrical licence traditionally granted to natural fools supports social commentary, parody, and power-hierarchy inversions.","Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi Journal of Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy  \nTiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi 32,(2021): 115-124  \nDOI: 10.26650/jtcd.861023 Research Article / Araştırma Makalesi  \nDog’s Day: Natural Folly and Subversion in MuchAdo About Nothing*  \nBen Haworth1   \n*This article is prepared with reference to the master dissertation titled“Early Modern Motley: The Function of Fools and Folly on the Shakespearean Stage”, completed in 2016 at Nottingham Trent University UK.  \n1Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University, English Faculty, UK  \nORCID: B. H. 0000-0002-3318-8666  \nCorresponding author / Sorumlu yazar:  \nBen Haworth,  \nLecturer, Nottingham Trent University, English Faculty, UK [E-mail/E-posta:](E-mail/E-posta: ben.haworth@live.co.uk)[ ben.haworth@live.co.uk](E-mail/E-posta: ben.haworth@live.co.uk)  \n[Submitted/Ba](Submitted/Ba)ş[vuru:](vuru:) 14.01.2021  \nRevision Requested/Revizyon Talebi:  \n05.02.2021  \nLast Revision Received/Son Revizyon:  \n05.02.2021  \nAccepted/Kabul: 15.03.2021  \nCitation/Atıf:  \nHaworth, Ben.“Dog’s Day: Natural Folly and Subversion in Much Ado About Nothing” Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi 32,(2021): 115-124.  \n[https://doi.org/10.26650/jtcd.861023](https://doi.org/10.26650/jtcd.861023)  \nABSTRACT  \nThis essay argues that Shakespeare’s natural fools, clowns, rustics, and buffoons provide far more than light comic relief. Using the example of Dogberry, from Much Ado About Nothing, I demonstrate that in allowing his fools to usurp their position of clownish caricature, to move outside of their normal social spheres, Shakespeare exposes the folly within societal institutions. Though an examination of language, namely the use of malapropisms, and the manipulation of traditional licence extended to natural fools, I contend that such theatrical depictions of folly opened the way for social commentary, parody and inversions of hierarchies of power on the stage.  \nKeywords: Shakespeare, Subversion, Folly, Malapropism, Dogberry  \nThis work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License  \nDog’s Day: Natural Folly and Subversion in MuchAdo About Nothing  \nPaul’s letter to the Corinthians contains the somewhat ambiguous admonition, ‘but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.’1 Shifts in perspective, such as the Pauline God’s-eye view, immediately problematise definitions of folly, opening it to multiple and at times abstruse meanings, even inverting previous understandings of what is both foolish and wise. On the Shakespearean stage, the equivocality of folly serves to contrast and disrupt established ideologies and philosophies – questioning, and revealing the flaws in the protagonists’reasoning and behaviour. The paradoxical combination of wisdom and folly, alongside the traditional permissions extended to fools, opened up exciting possibilities to the early modern playwright, allowing the creation of liminal characters that could transgress the social boundaries of class and propriety, and in so doing, subvert the dominant societal structure and its belief systems.  \nShakespeare’s own stage fool, Robert Armin, published Nest ofNinnies, his personal study of fools, in 1608. Subscribing to the description of a ‘fool’being an individual who displays any and all types of folly, Armin nevertheless clarified that there existed certain subgroups:  \nNaturall fooles are prone to selfe conceipt:  \nFooles artificiall, with their wits lay wayte2  \nDescribing two types of fool, Armin points firstly to those predisposed to folly by virtue of social ignorance or want of intellect, and secondly to the pretenders, those deliberately assuming the persona of the fool as a profession. This study will look at the former category, the natural fool, and his place within society and on the stage.  \nLlo","cbCairp7fhWsAXXl","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairp7fhWsAXXl","pdf",369567,14,1,10,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n## Argument and approach\n## Folly, language, and theatrical licence\n## Natural fools and historical definitions","[{\"question\":\"Which elements of theatrical depiction does the essay analyze to explain the effect of folly?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes language, particularly malapropisms, and the manipulation of traditional licence extended to natural fools to enable social commentary, parody, and inversions of power hierarchies.\"}]","Dog’s Day - Natural Folly and Subversion in Much Ado About Nothing | PDF",1787314366,15,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":79,"head_meta":81,"extra_data":83,"updated_unix":29},"dogs-day-natural-folly-and-subversion-in-much-ado-about-nothing","",{"@graph":37,"@context":78},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/dogs-day-natural-folly-and-subversion-in-much-ado-about-nothing/135549/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-03","2026-08-21",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Which elements of theatrical depiction does the essay analyze to explain the effect of folly?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"It emphasizes language, particularly malapropisms, and the manipulation of traditional licence extended to natural fools to enable social commentary, parody, and inversions of power hierarchies.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":80,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":82,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":85},[86,90,93,97,102,107,112,117,122,125,128],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":87,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":98,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":124},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":127},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":131},19,"General","general"]