The Shakespearean Comedy is Romantic not only in the sense that it does not observe the classical rules of dramatic composition, but also in the sense that it provides an escape from the sordid realities of life.
 

      The world of a Shakespearean Comedy, says Raleigh is a, “rainbow world of love in idleness”.

 
A Midsummer Night’s Dream reaches the very height or romanticism owing to the presence of the fairies, bright, beautiful, idealized beings of Shakespeare’s poetic fancy.

Indeed, the minglind or confrontation of romance and realism is one of the salient features of the comedy of Shakespeare. The characterization is realistic. His personages are ordinary beings and incidents as such are possible in common, everyday life.

    A Shakespearean comedy is a story of love ending with the ringing of marriage bells.

The excellent feature of Shakespearean comedy is its pervading obsession with marriage. In many exemplifications single or multiple marriages are used to provide comic clouser, as in As You Like It and Love’s Labour’s Lost, in which four couples marry or are expected to marry, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night, in each of which three couples marry, and Much Ado About Nothing and Two Gentleman of Verona, in each of which two couples marry.

         In other examples the very fact of marriage is used as the mainspiring of the comedy, as in The Merry Wives of Windsor, were the very title of the play indicates the importance of marriage, or, to a lesser extent, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew, in each of which a martial relationship plays a central part.

        Marriage is suitable as a provider for comedy because it focuses primarily on the experience of the group, as opposed to the individualist, isolationist emphasis of tragedy.

        Since, “music is the food of love” Shakespearean Comedy is intensely musical. Music and dance are its very life and soul. Twelfth Night opens with music which strikes the keynote of this marry tale of love.

The characters of a Shakespearean comedy are kind, light hearted and humourous. The women, specially, are winning and charming. They dominate the action and are always in the front. An array of glittering heroines bright, beautiful and witty, enlivense the world of comedy of Shakespeare. The remark of Ruskin, “Shakespeare has only heroines and no heroes” is certainly true of his comedies. In the world of the comedies he may gratify his bent to the utmost. “For it is true of most Shakespear’s comedies, as it is of daily life, that where the woman is, there also probably, is the root and heart of the matter.”

     Shakespearean comedy has been loved and enjoyed in every age and country. Its charm is as fresh as ever even today. Its sunny atmosphere, its idyllic nature, its spirit of kindness, its humanity, etc. have all combined to endear it to all his readers.

 

Ref: History of English Literature  by N Jayapalan.