Love In The Time Of Cholera: Florentino Ariza

Florentino Ariza is the epitome of the Romantic lover; he suffers for love. At the beginning of "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Florentino proclaims that he is still in love with Fermina Daza after many years and the novel then proceeds to explain the events that lead from their initial flirtations to her eventual marriage to Juvenal Urbino, a prominent doctor and social patron, and his promiscuous wanderings in search of solace for his unrequited affections for his beloved. Florentino's romantic gestures are wild and, at times, frightening. His devotion is unending and his "lovesickness" often manifests itself as actual physical illness. He has a masochistic streak which is evidenced in his obstinate refusal to move from his hometown to a place with a better job (and also away from Fermina and her new husband). While he has countless sexual encounters with other women throughout his life, he maintains that he is still a "virgin" when it comes to his eternal beloved. The book describes him as dressing like a poet, in all black with a hat and an old fashioned tie, even in the dead of summer.