Love in the Time of Cholera emphasizes the aberrant private life of Florentino, who embarks on an obsessive, passionate pursuit of his love for Fermina over five decades while engaging in countless acts of adultery on the side. His journey, which brings him into contact with various devices of marriage, love, and passion prevalent in his society and life, leads him to formulate his own theory of love. Resisting social norms of marriage and stability, Florentino devotes himself to indefatigable romanticism and sexual pleasure, but his ideas and actions ultimately prove morally ambiguous.
Through the circumstances of Fermina and numerous other widows, Márquez argues that marriage is a form of confinement for the woman involved. Due to the idolization of class and status within the Caribbean society of Love in Cholera, marriage is purposed for stability and mutual gain, nothing more than a business deal; thus, genuine romance has no opportunity to bud. Put in simplest terms, Fermina marries Dr. Juvenal for his money and status, characteristics of financial and social stability, but not love or happiness. Yet, it is apparent that marriages based on stability and material comfort are doomed for unhappiness and confinement. In their decades of living together, the relationship between Dr. Juvenal and Fermina could be described as mutual codependence at best. As her husband's "deluxe servant," Fermina is bound to the household affairs and her husband's public image. Living with her husband and mother-in-law, Fermina suffers at the hands of the symbolic representation of aristocratic marriage, who forces her to eat eggplant against her will and behave in more "ladylike," socially-acceptable manners. The one-sided dynamic in marriage is revealed through extramarital affairs; the husband encounters no punishment for infidelity; he is even expected to have two wives, one formally in the house, another to love illicitly. On the other hand, wives like Olympia Zuleta face societal disgrace, physical harm, and even violent death upon seeking similar extramarital affairs. Despite the security and stability that marriage and later widowhood provide, many women nonetheless choose to escape their captivity. The confinement in marriage directly correlates to the behaviors of widows and Florentino's theory on widowhood; after the passing of their husbands, granted significantly more personal freedoms, widows take advantage of avenues to their worldly pleasures. As such, marriage is the root cause of the proliferation of the casual sexual attitude of many in society and lends itself to Florentino's sustained sexual activity.
Arising from a desire to escape from the circumstances of reality, Florentino's indulgence in sexual pleasure has become inseparable from his perception of love. After falling in love with Fermina and even after he was turned down and forced to endure the sight of Fermina's marriage with another man, Florentino vowed to remain chaste to wait for her to return to him. However, aboard a boat, he is suddenly raped by an unknown woman who took away his virginity; instead of feeling trauma or disgust, Florentino is fascinated by the ecstasy and escape that sex offers. Seeking refuge and distraction from his single-minded obsession with Fermina plaguing his very life, Florentino's addiction to worldly pleasure grew. Experiencing only its benefits and seeing no repercussions for his continued sexual activity, Florentino comes to the belief that sensual pleasure is innately aligned with morality. Moreover, he is convinced that the ecstasy and abandon he and his partners--widows and sexually frustrated women--derive from physical intimacy justifies its moral correctness. Nevertheless, Florentino fails to perceive the underlying degeneration and violence reaped by his pursuit of sexual enjoyment. Early on, in the hotel, he sees the scars of sexual violence endured by the prostitutes, but he still remains eluded that what he does is dissimilar and more righteous. While Florentino endeavors to protect the identity and reputation of his sexual partners to the point where his own takes a toll, his behavior is in no way virtuous. In addition to being irrevocably guilty of many instances of sexual assault, Florentino's obscene writing on the body of Olympia Zuleta caused her murder by her jealous husband. Even more abominable is his affair with 14-year-old América Vicuña, who was in his legal custody; Florentino consciously chooses to molest and engage in sexual acts with a minor he was expected to protect. After abandoning her to profess his love for Fermina, Florentino has the blood of América Vicuña on his hands, following her jealous suicide. In all cases of tragedy stemming from his sexual relationships, Florentino brazenly prioritizes his own reputation and safety over his responsibilities. To Florentino, there is no love without sex; it has become his only device to initiate relationships with women. His dependency on the pleasure, release, and connections stemming from sexual indulgence spawns a dangerous delusion that his actions are morally justified.
To truly understand the decades Florentino devoted to his obsessive pursuit of love, one must understand love's different characterizations. On the one hand, domestic relationships such as marriage portray a facet of love filled with tenderness and mutual dependence. In his marriage with Fermina, Dr. Urbino certainly cares about his wife, but their relationship boils down just to mutual attention, lacking any passion. Neither of them feels fully satisfied through their union, prompting Dr. Urbino to look elsewhere for genuine romantic attraction. In contrast, romantic passion, personified by Florentino, is presented to be akin to cholera and any other physical disease. For example, the lovesick Florentino is stricken with bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, and other uncontrollable physical reactions to such an intensity that he is mistaken to have contracted a virulent disease. On the other hand, Florentino's intense love is akin to obsession; for countless decades, even after his beloved's marriage, he is unable to free himself from thinking about her. Through the sickening ailments his love causes him, Florentino's obsession for Fermina is more of a curse than a blessing. In fact, love itself is like a plague to his life through Florentino's dependence on it for survival, as he makes a living as a telegraph operator and letter writer aiding separated lovers. Even in his later years, after finally marrying Fermina, the grasp of obsessive love does not leave his soul. During the two's cruise, they pretend to have contracted cholera, mirroring the metaphorical illness of love. Ultimately, the portrayal of romantic love in the novel attests to its obsessive dangers and control over the entirety of one's life.
Throughout the novel, Florentino's actions reveal his underlying obsessive love and the usage of sex as an escape mechanism from his problems, aided by a society where marriage effectively functions as a prison. His theory of love reflects his personal romanticism but also societal pressures facing many, like widows.
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