[In the following excerpt, Palmer discusses Touchstone's character in As You Like It . According to the critic, Touchstone is a wise fool who acts as a kind of guide or point of reference throughout the play, putting everyone, including himself, to the comic test. This function is apparent in Touchstones parodic exchanges with Carin, Silvius, Audrey, and especially-Jaques, with whom the fool acts as a foil throughout the play. For further commentary on Touchstones character, see the excerpts by Alfred Harbage, Kenneth Muir, John A. Hart, and Enid Welsford.]

In most of Shakespeare's comedies there is a character who stands, as it were, at the centre. To get a clear view of the composition as a whole we must take up our position as near as possible beside him.

In 'Love's Labour's Lost' we found our point of reference for the comic values of the play in...