In Much Ado About Nothing, the redoubtable Dogberry, a local sheriff who doubles as an idiot, is even so the man who uncovers Don John’s plot to slander the maiden Hero. Don John’s henchman Borachio, who previously seduced Hero’s maid, enters Hero’s rooms when Hero is spending the night with Beatrice, and embraces the maid at the window, knowing he will be seen by Hero’s fiancé Claudio, who will think Borachio is embracing Hero.  Don John and Borachio take their cue directly from the present-day media’s playbook. Here’s Dogberry after …

“She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived.”: Dogberry and Media Misinformation Read More »