3.2.2

Key Lines

Test yourself

Leonato

LEONATO: Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?

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Key line

  • LEONATO: Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?
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Dramatic function

  • Conversations between Antonio and Leonato (likely the eldest characters in the play) often revolve around status and reputation.
  • In this way, the dramatic function of these two characters is to reflect the traditional views held by men in society at the time the play was both set and written.
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Wit

  • The concept of “wit” or intelligence being important is established here and creates irony for later in the play when Dogberry (fulfilling the role of a Shakespearean fool) and the Watch uncover the truth of Don John and Borachio’s villainy.
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Act 5, Scene 1

  • As Borachio informs Don Pedro in Act 5, Scene 1:
  • “What your wisdoms could not discover,
    these shallow fools have brought to light,”

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