Pope Benedict XVI recently maintained that erotic love has been reduced to ôpure sexàa commodity, a mere thing to be bought and soldö in contemporary society, but he also maintained that erotic love can be ôpurifiedö to ôfulfill manÆs highest callingö (Whatever 48). Erotic love typically relates to a form of love that is based on ôamorous desireö (Erotic 1). Erotic love can be egotistical or self-sacrificing, depending on the ôamatoryö desire involved. In Megan FossÆ ôLove Lettersö and Wendy WassersteinÆs ôThe Man in a Case,ö we see examples of both the egotistical and self-sacrificing aspects encompassed by erotic love.
In both ôLove Lettersö and ôThe Man in a Caseö the women share erotic love for their males, a bride-to-be in the former and the prostitute girlfriend of an inmate in the latter. The hooker in ôLove Lettersö demonstrates the aspect of egotistical erotic love. She writes lengthy letters to her incarcerated lover Daryl, but she rips them up and never mails them to him. She obviously has amorous desire for Daryl, from her telling us that she spent every night with him on her pillow to her desire and longing for him. However, she does not send the letters because they make her believe Daryl is not in jail or he is still coming home. She continues to have sex with other men for money and, at one point in describing Billy Jay she seems to have erotic desire due to his physical appeal, ôHis eyebrows arched over his round bright blue eyes and he tossed a long blonde curl off his shoulderö (Foss 15).
We see that the erotic love experienced by Mickey is a selfish or egotistical one, primarily because she thinks only of herself and her desires to have Daryl. Billy Jay tells her that DarylÆs surely ôgoin outa his mindö from not having any mail from her, but Mickey cannot bring herself to mail the letters (Foss 15). We learn later that she does not mail the letters because i
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