Whoever said, "Love conquers all" clearly was not living in the world of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Of Love and Other Demons. In this world, the views of love are cynical and skewed, the characters are governed by rules in which the abnormal is considered ordinary, and it is no cause for concern should the sky start to rain paper birds. Although this world seems to warp "reality," the characters are still subject to classic universal human desires, fears, emotions, and flaws. Instead of being a conquering force, love is either cast off, tainted, or the corrupting factor plaguing all the relationships. .
The marriage between the Marquise and Bernarda was never a loving one, but rather one based on pride. In his youth, the Marquise experienced love for a socially unacceptable woman. Instead of standing up to his fathers authority, and thereby defending his freedom to choose love, he acted cowardly and led himself into a life that would later cause him tremendous grief. In much the same way, Bernarda also rejected love to do the socially acceptable thing. Bernarda exemplified this when she said, "I put the noose around my own neck But I"m not sorry. It was too much to expect that on top of everything else I"d have to love the poor premature creature, or you, when you've been the cause of my misfortunes."(p.141) By casting off the possibility of having a loving relationship, both the Marquis and Bernarda became so bitter and resentful that they could do nothing but hate each other.
Delaura's view of love was one of inaccessibility. He was brought up knowing only what could be learned from books, was lacking worldly experience, and to some extent human interaction. When Sierva Maria entered his life, he was suddenly faced with new possibilities. Delaura was not in love with Sierva Maria, but rather with the notion of making himself saintly by causing himself tremendous heartbreak over inaccessible love.
