Dogberry highlights the serious social problem of people's inability to question authority. This is illustrated through Dogberry's malapropism - "you shall comprehend all vagram men. You are to bid any man stand, in the prince's name"..."take no note of him, but let him go", showing that he is an incompetent policeman. This is a serious social issue in inself, but the fact that he daren't question a man of the prince shows that he fears the consequences due to social hierarchy, which revolves around money and gender. Shakespeare demonstrates this social problem of questioning authority throughout the play - such as when Hero is wrongly accused by Don Pedro and Claudio, yet does not speak out. This shows that authority is based upon finance and gender. Another example of this would be where Claudio is not questionned when he realises Hero was innocent, and wishes again to marry her instantly. The two men are high in society due to their financial strengths and gender.
Dogberry has no power because he is idiotic in his use of language, using malapropisms unknowingly virtually every time he speaks - "You are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the constable of the watch". His attempts to sound intellectual fail, yet he does not realise. This shows he is self-deceptive - he is ignorant to his own idiocy, tricking himself into thinking he is clever and doing what is right in order to avoid dealing with higher authority. He and the watchmen interpret the actions of others to benefit themselves, for example, leaving a thief be incase he wasn't actually a thief, showing they are afraid to act on crime to avoid questioning anyone higher in authority than them. This leaves a serious social problem behind, affecting society in how secure and safe they feel based on how the policemen choose to act on situations, which is decided based on people's authority.
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries (of Shakespeares time), and they had strict moral and religious principles. This group illustrate the inability to question authority - no-one questioned them or their actions because to question religion (high authority) was extremely punishable and unacceptable, which shunned people from doing so. They wanted to ban the theatre because they thought were magnets for vice, drunkenness, gambling, and prostitution. All this made them distractions from the pursuit of a higher, moral society pursued by the Puritans.
