Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It sets up a number of dualities that are explored but never resolved, exposing the complex relationships that exist between romance and realism, nobleman and commoner, and male and female. This invaluable new study guide to one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies contains a selection of the finest criticism through the centuries on As You Like It, including commentaries by such important critics as Samuel Johnson, George Bernard Shaw, W. H. Auden, and many others. Students will also benefit from the additional features in this volume, including an introduction by Harold Bloom, an accessible summary of the plot, an analysis of several key passages, a comprehensive list of characters, a biography of Shakespeare, essays discussing the main currents of criticism in each century since Shakespeare’s time, and more.