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.