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Shakespeare differs from other playwrights in several ways but more conspicuously in the creation of characters and situations. More than any other writer of comedy it is Shakespeare who developed the myth of Romantic marriage. However, what makes him so unique is that in the very act of reprobation or derision he enters the minds and hearts of his characters. Shakespeare never writes a comedy within the commonly accepted sense of the term, the secret of Shakespeare's art lies in the quality of his imaginative reaction to life. This paper attempts to discuss Shakespeare's comic art as different from that of his predecessors, especially classical writers of comedy. The selected play for discussion is As You Like
It with its various features of idyllic setting, the pastoral, romance and disguise.