He has thrown drama, farce and comedy together with piercingly astute perceptions of mental illness, and topped the whole thing off with lyrical romance.
You'll recall from high school or college how Shakespeare frequently pushes the limits of comedy and tragedy, splicing farce into moments of calamity (the fool in King Lear, the clowns in Hamlet) and pulling back suddenly from near-fatal disaster in comedies (The Merchant of Venice, A Winter's Tale).