“Shakespeare is known both as a master tragedian and a skillful smith of comedy. While his tragedies are often surprising in their twists and turns, his comedies at least tend to always follow the same basic formulaic compilation of danger, masked intrigue, tension and resolution. This formula provides a dividing line between his tragedies and his comedies, though sometimes it is somewhat frayed (as in the case of Romeo & Juliet). However, sometimes a comedy comes along in which one can see how just slight twists of fate could just as easily turn the same script to a tragedy following the form of other Shakespearean tragedies. In “As You Like It” in particular, Shakespeare presents the thin line of fate that separates tragedy from comedy, setting up a situation that could turn as easily to one as the other were it not for the paradoxical strengths of a woman, and mercy of a man, and the intervention of a deity.”