A Dowry of Blood

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of abusive relationships.

A Dowry of Blood deconstructs abusive relationships through the exaggerated lens of a vampiric marriage. While human relationships last decades at most, vampiric ones can last centuries—or until one partner gets a stake through the heart. The lengthy lifespans of Dracula and his spouses magnify the complexities of emotionally and physically abusive relationships, underscoring the insidious, cyclical nature of abuse.

Constanta’s, Magdalena’s, and Alexi’s marriages to Dracula illustrate the cycle of an emotionally abusive relationship: a honeymoon phase, a buildup of tension, the abuser exerting increasing control over their partner or partners, a major fight, a reconciliation, and a repetition of the same cycle over again. A Dowry of Blood refers to literal honeymoons when it describes the honeymoon phase of the cycle, while in reality, a “honeymoon phase” is a term that psychologists use to describe the happier times in an emotionally abusive relationship. Constanta, as the first of Dracula’s three spouses in the novel (though not, as she will come to learn, his first spouse ever) witnesses this cycle play out multiple times over hundreds of years of marriage. The repetition of this centuries-long toxic cycle only compounds Constanta’s entrapment in her marriage as she comes to feel protective over both Magdalena and Alexi, fearful that Dracula will harm them if she leaves.

Dracula uses vampirism as an excuse to isolate his spouses. When they try to make connections with humans, he tells them that humans are dangerous, inferior to vampires, and incapable of really understanding the vampire experience. Remaining isolated from the world is a way to remain safe, he suggests. It is common for emotionally abusive individuals to isolate their partners, but in Dracula’s case, there is truth to the idea that forming close human relationships could be dangerous for vampires: When the villagers learn that Dracula is a vampire after witnessing him attempting to take a victim, they form an angry mob and storm his castle. Dracula leverages his advanced knowledge of vampirism and his physical strength to maintain control over his partners, refusing to answer their questions or tell them about what it means to be a vampire. His emotions are highly volatile, and it falls to his partners, especially Constanta and Magdalena, to manage those emotions, as Dracula refuses to take responsibility for his actions.

Dracula is given no interiority in Constanta’s narrative, as she tells her story from her own first-person perspective. Therefore, her vampire husband’s intentions are intentionally unclear. Readers, like Constanta, do not know whether Dracula is acting with intentional cruelty or whether he truly loves his spouses, as Alexi believes. This lack of clarity into Dracula’s motivations underscores that abuse can occur regardless of the abuser’s intentions. Though Constanta comes to believe that her husband is deliberately cruel, her narrative makes clear that Dracula’s actions are harming her and that she is justified in escaping his abuse, regardless of the motivations behind his behavior.