Essay from the year 2011 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: B, , course: Eng 382, language: English, abstract: LOVE is the essence of human existence. However what happens when a person is torn between two lovers. Do we love them both or do we sacrifice one. The Merchant of Venice truly is a play about love. Love between two men and love between a man and a women. Love between Anotonio and Bassanio and love between Bassanio and Portia. However, when talking about love between the two male characters of this play, this paper has adopted the position that their love is not homoerotic in nature. This two types of love discussed in this paper is defined from two variants of the word love in the greek lanaguage "Love agape and love eros. This paper also seeks to establish the desires each type of love expresses to Bassanio and sees how they are in competition with each other to win the object of their affection.