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Traditionally, the plays of William Shakespeare have been classified into three categories: tragedies, comedies, and histories. “Comedy” in Shakespeare has a very different meaning from comedy today. Shakespearean comedy includes irony, ignorance, self-delusion, and human weakness with a tone and style that is more lighthearted than Shakespeare's other plays. As You Like It and Twelfth Night are two comedies that clearly portray these elements
William Shakespeare creates a plot that revolves around mistaken identity and deception in both plays. Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises. Viola’s decision to "conceal what I am" and disguise herself as Cesario is the main action of the play and provides much opportunity for humor and double entendres. Other deceptions include Maria, who writes a letter to Malvolio as Olivia, and the mix-up between Sebastian and Viola.
In As You Like It, Rosalind first uses her disguise for safety and protection while walking in the Forest of Arden. However, her intentions change when she stumbles upon Orlando and uses her appearance as a way to withdraw information and to deceive him.
The idea of illusion and deception lead to a second comic device, irony. In As You Like It, much of the humor of the scenes of Orlando wooing Rosalind as Ganymede-playing-Rosalind comes from the audience’s knowledge of Rosalind's game and Orlando's ignorance of it; again, a form of dramatic irony. Another small form of irony includes Duke Frederick's criticism of Oliver. When he calls Oliver a villain who has not bothered to love his brother, he is really describing himself, for he has taken the dukedom from Duke Senior, his older brother, and banished him to the Forest of Arden.
It is ironic that Viola, who has fallen in love with the Duke, must carry messages of love to Olivia on his behalf, where Viola inadvertently sets up another complicated romance between herself and Olivia when Olivia falls in...