Compare and contrast life in the court with life in the country in As You Like It. What are one's "enemies" in each locale? What can be accomplished in one setting that cannot be accomplished in the other?

The contrast between court and country in As You Like It is a stark one. The country, in the shape of the Forest of Arden, is a place of banishment for good people. They are typically victims of enemies at court who have conspired to have them expelled to this political wasteland. Yet, exile can also be a blessing in disguise and a means of escape from the artificialities of court life. As Duke Senior explains,

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court? (act 2, scene 1).

The exiles may have been deprived of the pomp and circumstance of court life, but their new life is a more natural existence—more in keeping with humankind's existence before the Fall. The icy wind may blow and cause us to shiver, but at least there is a certain honesty about it. You know where you stand with the elements, which is more than can be said for the two-faced lackey at court who flatters you to your face but spreads false rumors about you behind your back. Honest enemies are so much better than dishonest ones.
The honesty of the elements is reflected in the earthy, no-nonsense love between Touchstone and Audrey. Their relationship is entirely free of the trappings of courtly love encapsulated by Orlando's lushly romantic wooing of Rosalind. Touchstone's understanding of love may be a tad crude and bawdy, but, like the icy wind that often howls through the forest, at least there is a certain rugged honesty about it.
The forest exerts an almost magical effect on the characters of As You Like It, acting as a kind of purgative, cleansing the souls of those who enter it. Duke Senior, as we have already seen, seems almost relieved of the burdens of his worldly existence. Distinctions of class and gender often dissolve amidst the natural environment of the forest's lush green shade. A number of characters in the play look to the forest as a haven from the social rigidities of the court and as an opportunity to shed the artificial identities placed upon them by a hierarchical society. They adopt alternative personas, transgressing boundaries of gender and class in a way that would be unthinkable in the outside world.
Celia, for example, casts off her nobility to disguise herself as a poor woman. This gives her a freedom she has never previously enjoyed. In her new identity, she no longer has to worry about being robbed. She can also finally be loved and accepted for who she really is. It is instructive that Celia can only find true love with Oliver in the woodland environment and not at court. By falling in love with a woman he believes to be poor and humble, Oliver is radically transformed. In the world outside, it is fair to say that Oliver was hardly the most selfless or giving of characters.