As You Like It: The Romantic Love of Silvio and Phoebe There are different types of love described in As You Like It by Shakespeare. One variety of love depicted in this play is romantic love, the romantic literary ideal that became popular in the Middle Ages. According to the tradition of courtly love, the lover adores his lady and serves her, suffers all sorts of humiliations for her and thinks only of her. He must be faithful to her all his life, no matter how badly she treats him or how much he suffers from unrequited love. A true lover never ceases to adore his lady, and when he speaks of her he uses only poetic language and style. These conventions of courtly love are clearly exemplified in As You Like It in the romantic bond of Silvius and Phebe. When Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone arrive in the Forest of Arden they meet Silvius and Corin, an old shepherd, who are engaged in a conversation about love. Corin is advising his friend on how to treat the woman he loves. However Silvio doubts the old shepherd's authority in such matters, for although Corin admits to having been involved in acts of madness for love during his youth, he cannot remember any of them. Silvius clearly shows that if Corin has forgotten even the most insignificant detail of the actions that love has caused him to commit, then he has never truly been in love. Even more, Silvio also explains that a true lover never ceases to adore his woman with words, even if this makes the listener uncomfortable, and further explains that sincere love can push a lover to interrupt a conversation for passion. To demonstrate this last point, Silvio suddenly interrupts his speech by passionately shouting the name of Phoebe, his beloved, several times. Silvio reflects the behavior of the courteous lover, who is capable of the most senseless actions for the sake of his beloved, and who suffers the pangs of unrequited love and abrupt separation from his lady. His only concern is love, and although he is uneducated, his language is noble, poetic, and artificial when he speaks in praise of Phebe. Indeed, both Phoebe and Sylvius speak in elaborate verse to respect the conventions of courtly love. In their courtship, Silvio praises his virtues and begs for the slightest sign of affection, and Phoebe despises him and always rejects him..