ABSTRACT
As You Like It and King Lear are united by the fact that both are great plays, that they share characteristic qualities which their author imparted to many of his works, and that they treat some of the same themes. Yet we also recognize great differences between these two plays which make it impossible to understand and judge both by the same set of criteria. To deplore the fact that King Lear shows less optimism, less “power of positive thinking,” on the heath than does Duke Senior in the forest would be futile as well as irrelevant. Similarly, to dislike Lear because it lacks the happy ending of As You Like It would be to cripple our minds. To observe and participate in any work of art requires one to know something about the forms of art, and enjoyment increases with knowledge. So it is with Shakespeare’s plays: to understand and enjoy, we need to know something about the types of drama involved.
