Phoebe is a character type right out of the pastoral genre. Her scenes with Silvius are often parodying conventions within that genre made famous by works such as Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," where a pastoral youth woos his beloved with promises of simple but sensual pleasures.

In Shakespeare's time, pastoral plays and poetry often presented rural life as purer and less complicated than urban existence, giving the city-bred audience a sense of escapism. In As You Like It, the genre is lampooned in many ways, but Phoebe is meant to represent a type not unlike the beloved presented by Marlowe's poem.

Phoebe is a typical poetic mistress. She is disdainful of her pleading lover, acting as though she is far above him with her haughty demeanor. Shakespeare further satirizes the genre by having Phoebe fall in love with the disguised Rosalind. Phoebe is enchanted by Ganymede's beauty, even though "he" insulted her moments ago after witnessing her unkind words towards Silvius. Though Phoebe declares that she finds Ganymede peevish, she is clearly besotted and now claims to understand Silvius better. Ironically, experiencing unrequited love herself is what starts binding her closer to Silvius, leading to their marriage at the end of the play.