Camille is the most celebrated and most popular expression of what Susan Sontag calls "the sentimental fantasy of tuberculosis," which captured the imagination and represented the sensibility of many 19th century writers and artists.(Illness As Metaphor, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1977, p 5). The protagonist, Marguerite Gautier, embodies the romanticized construction of the disease, thought to affect those individuals who were emotionally sensitive, sexually passionate, physically fragile and highly creative. The visible symptoms of slenderness, languidness and fever not only enhance her attractiveness to characters within the narrative but also evoke sympathy outside it among audiences who might otherwise have been inclined towards harsher moral judgments of her.

The action of the story--the discovery, experience and loss of romantic love--also reflects this 19th century construction of tuberculosis as well as its etiology. Called the "disease of love," consumption was believed to increase the capacity for euphoria as it diminished the span of life.

Only by literally ceasing the activity of daily life could one hope to arrest the ravages of the disease. Once Marguerite surrenders to Armand’s love and accepts his care, she becomes stronger and healthier; when that love and care are withdrawn, she quickly declines, inwardly consumed by unrequited desire.