The idea of the eye, beholding physical beauty, and the heart, the center of emotion and love, as battling over a beloved was common. For instance, Thomas Watson's The Tears of Fancie, written in 1593, discusses this conflict in sonnets 19 and 20. However, in that case no truce is reached; to the contrary, both the eye and the heart suffer for having deprived each other of part of the beloved, as stated in the final couplet of sonnet 19: "So th'one did weepe th'other sighed, both grieved, / For both must live and love, both unrelieved."
In Shakespeare's plays, there are contrasting views as to who should be in the victor in the battle between the eye and the heart. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena believes that love is "blind," taking the part of the heart in this debate: "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; / And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind" (I.i.234-7). However, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia sings otherwise. In her song, "fancy" refers to love or infatuation: