Explain how Shakespeare has struck a balance of romance and comedy in As You Like It.

In As You Like It Shakespeare
balances romance and comedy by wrapping the romance in the comedy through comedic antics
that flow naturally from the character's temperament and personality traits and through
situational irony. For instance, Orlando, distractedly in love with Rosalind, goes (or
as he says, runs) around Arden forest attaching badly written poetry to trees and
carving "Rosalind" in the bark of trees. This is pretty funny, and it flows naturally
from the traits we learn about him earlier: he is exuberant; daring; full of energy; and
poorly educated (which explains the bad poetry).

Another
instance is that Rosalind, who is at first all distraught to think that Orlando might
catch her in her man's clothing, takes advantage of the confessions of love Orlando
makes while she and Celia are eavesdropping and plays a protracted and very silly joke
on Orlando. This flows from what we already know of her traits: she is romantic and can
be silly; she is courageous and assertive; she is playful and enjoys word
play.

The situational irony in which she, of course, knows
her identity while Orlando doesn't, adds to the amusement of Rosalind/Ganymede's teasing
joke played on Orlando while also moving the romance forward. In the joke as she
contrived it, Orlando pretends to be courting Rosalind while he is talking to Ganymede,
so the audience learns his romantic sentiments.