SOURCE: Gelven, Michael. “Silvius.” In Truth and the Comedic Art, pp. 11-20. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.

In the following essay, Gelven sees the minor character Silvius as an embodiment of true love in As You Like It, who serves as a foil to the deceitful lovers of Shakespeare's romantic comedy.

He is the purest lover in the forest. It is a magical place, this forest of Arden, where the very thickets are barbed with lovers; yet this poor shepherd with the golden tongue outloves them all. At his first entrance (II, 2) he shows us his scars:

No, Corin, being old thou canst not guess; Though in thy youth thou wast as true a lover As ever sighed upon a midnight pillow: But if thy love were ever like to mine,— As sure I think did never man love so,— How many actions most ridiculous Hast...