In Act 4, Scene 3, after Rosalind receives Phoebe’s message from Silvius, she chides him for continuing to allow Phoebe to use and mistreat him. She uses an oxymoron to describe Silvius’s character:
Wilt thou love such a woman? What, to make thee an instrument and play false strains upon thee? Not to be endured. Well, go your way to her, for I see love hath made thee a tame snake[.]
According to Rosalind, love has made Silvius into a “tame snake.” In this scene, Rosalind reads the love letter she has received from Phoebe out loud in front of Silvius, much to his chagrin. Rosalind displays her annoyance at Phoebe’s aggressive tone (“Can a woman rail thus?”). Meanwhile, Silvius is amazed that she doesn’t recognize her good fortune at being the object of Phoebe’s affection (“Call you this railing?”).
Recall that Phoebe has asked Silvius, who has already declared his love for her, to deliver this letter to Ganymede. Silvius, for his part, cherishes even this little scrap of attention from her. Even Phoebe’s manipulation and scorn don’t turn Silvius off, in part because he buys so totally into the cliche of passion as pain.
Rosalind is amazed at Silvius’s obsequiousness (“Wilt thou love such a woman?”). Phoebe has made him her pet, a “tame snake.” The choice of “snake” is significant, not only because it refers to a wild, undomesticated animal (and so creates an oxymoron here), but because snakes are typically associated with dishonesty and betrayal. Silvius, however, betrays and deceives only himself, at Phoebe’s word (rendering him, thus, “tame”).
