54 pages • 1-hour read
My Dark Romeo
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Character Analysis
Dallas Townsend
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, sexual violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, gender discrimination, and graphic violence.
Dallas Townsend is one of the novel’s protagonists and first-person narrators. The chapters titled with her first name are written from her first-person point of view and trace the plot from her storyline. Her first-person voice also provides insight into her interiority and conveys her thoughtful nature. In the narrative present, Dallas is 21 years old. She grows up with her father, Shepherd Townsend, mother, Natasha Townsend, and younger sister, Frankie Townsend, in Chapel Falls, Georgia. While Frankie is “the designated banshee in the Towsend household, Dallas has been “branded the lazy one, with the lack of ambition and abundance of free time” (5). Dallas has a passion for reading and literature but doesn’t enjoy her time at Emory University and ends up dropping out near the start of the novel. Instead, Dallas prefers to spend her time in her favorite fictional worlds. Reading lets her entertain her imagination and develop fanciful dreams; books also teach her about relationships and give her insight into the world around her. Dallas is beautiful, charming, and spirited, displaying a constant excitement for life and eagerness to explore new things.
Dallas is a strong-willed, determined character who changes throughout the novel; this makes her a dynamic character. When My Dark Romeo begins, Dallas is resigned to marry Madison Licht—the wealthy bachelor her father chose for her when she was a child. She’s grown up in a conservative setting where women are taught to submit to the men in their lives without question. However, once she ends up with Romeo Costa instead, Dallas begins to assert herself. Not unlike her father, Romeo tries to control Dallas. Instead of deferring to his power plays and manipulative games, Dallas fights back. She stands up for herself verbally and matches Romeo in his constant battles of wit. Over time, Dallas proves herself as more clever and self-possessed than Romeo. He comes to respect her for her intelligence, feist, and refusal to sacrifice her desires to appease him.
Dallas is also an empathetic and gracious character, which contrasts Romeo’s callousness. Romeo often mistreats and physically and emotionally abuses her. Despite his cruel behavior, Dallas is still compassionate and forgiving. Notably, her intuition tells her that Romeo’s cruelty is a manifestation of his trauma, which he has not processed and instead uses to fuel his aggression and violence toward others, including her. She encourages Romeo to open up to her. She wants him to know that being vulnerable isn’t a sign of weakness and that she’ll support and love him no matter what he’s experienced in the past. In the meantime, Dallas opens herself to Romeo. She lets him see her idiosyncrasies, flaws, and pain, which ultimately endears her to him. Her character thus acts as an agent of positive change in Romeo’s life.
Romeo Costa
Romeo Costa is another of the novel’s protagonists and first-person narrators. The chapters titled with his first name are written from his first-person point of view and trace the plot from his storyline. In the narrative present, Romeo is 31 years old. His parents are Romeo Costa, Sr. (Senior) and Monica Costa. For as long as Romeo can remember, he has never felt loved or accepted by his family. His parents neglected and rejected him as a child, sending him to Italy to live with his aunt, who also neglected and abused him. Although Senior later brought Romeo home, his return to the United States didn’t offer him the safe and secure home life he craved. These childhood experiences continue to inform his self-expression in the present. He treats others with derision and cruelty and dedicates his life to exacting revenge on his father. He is determined to destroy Senior not only for failing to love him as a child but for having sex with the only woman he ever loved, his ex-fiancé, Morgan Lacoste.
Romeo’s life changes when he meets and marries Dallas. Romeo is convinced that marrying Dallas—who he sees as silly, immature, and naïve—will secure him control of his father’s business, Costa Industries, and punish his rival Madison—who he also wants to hurt for betraying him years prior. After Dallas moves in with him, Romeo doesn’t feel guilty for belittling, manipulating, or emotionally abusing her because he doesn’t recognize her humanity and holds misogynistic beliefs. Once Dallas proves indomitable, however, Romeo realizes that Dallas is someone he should respect and love. He comes to accept “her demands, her flaws, her passions, and her ways” and falls in love “with the ground she walk[s] upon, with her laugh, with her freckles, with her obsession with books, her messiness, her joy, her unapologetic personality” (305). Her love transforms Romeo, teaching him that he’s both worthy of being cared for and capable of making sacrifices for others.
Romeo’s character arc resembles that of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. Like the Beast, Romeo is angry, aggressive, and intolerant at the novel’s start. Over time, however, Romeo begins to soften. Like the Beast, Romeo’s transformation is inspired by the love he receives from Dallas. He wins Dallas’s affection by the novel’s end, proving that he is more than his brusque exterior.
Madison Licht
Madison Licht is a secondary character. He is a narrative device used to create tension and conflict on the page. At the novel’s start, Dallas is engaged to Madison—an arrangement their parents made for them when they were still children. Shepherd particularly wants this marriage because Madison’s family owns Licht Holdings. The Lichts are wealthy and powerful, and this alliance would benefit the Townsends. Although Dallas does her best to strike up a friendship with Madison, she doesn’t love him. Whereas Dallas has never had sex before and wants to start a family with someone she loves, Madison has countless sexual partners and shows no overt interest in family life or romance. These dichotomies put the two in conflict even before they’re meant to get married.
Madison is also Romeo’s rival. The two used to be friends, but Madison betrayed Romeo to get ahead in the business world. He paid Romeo’s ex Morgan to give up Romeo’s deepest secrets—a betrayal for which Romeo is determined to punish Madison. He intentionally “steals” Dallas from him to hurt Madison. Throughout the novel, he has repeated, heated confrontations with him. In these exchanges, Romeo either physically attacks Madison or verbally goads him. He later tries to destroy Madison’s business reputation by reporting him for fraud.
Madison is a primary antagonist. Like Romeo, he is not opposed to playing manipulative games that intentionally hurt others. This is why he hires Romeo’s driver Jared to poison Romeo. He is so furious at Romeo for marrying Dallas and having him arrested that he tries to kill him. Madison doesn’t change throughout the novel because his character isn’t interested in growing. This makes him a static character. However, his more maniacal side does become increasingly apparent the more he interacts with Dallas and Romeo.
Romeo Costa, Sr.
Romeo Costa, Sr. is a secondary character. He is primarily referred to as Senior throughout the novel. This moniker narratively distinguishes him from Romeo, the novel’s romantic hero, and depicts the emotional distance between Romeo and his father. Senior’s character is also an antagonist in that his nefarious tendencies threaten the protagonists and create conflict in their lives. Senior is withholding. He runs Costa Industries but refuses to name his only son and heir Romeo CEO unless he satisfies a series of rigid terms. Senior wants Romeo to get married before taking over the company so that there’s an heir to Costa Industries after Romeo. Romeo marries Dallas to get the CEO position but refuses to have children because he wants to hurt Senior. He hates Senior for how he mistreated him as a child and for having sex with his ex, Morgan. Dallas doesn’t understand these relational complexities until Senior makes unwanted sexual advances when she’s at the demonstration. Senior proves himself to be a selfish, cruel, predatory, and morally dubious character.
Morgan Lacoste
Morgan Lacoste is a minor character. She is Romeo’s ex-fiancé. The two met when they were in their early twenties. Morgan was an au pair in the Hamptons where Romeo’s family was vacationing. The two fell in love and got engaged despite Senior’s disapproval. Romeo genuinely cared for Morgan and didn’t care that she was from a different social and economic background. Morgan seemed to love Romeo too until his school and work distracted him from their relationship. She ultimately proved herself to be more selfish than Romeo imagined—selling his secrets to his rival, Madison, and having sex with his father, Senior, when she was bored and lonely.
Morgan never appears in scene because Romeo exiled her to Norway after she betrayed him. However, her presence shadows Romeo’s chapters of the novel because he’s still heartbroken over how she hurt him. She represents a different version of Romeo’s character and life. When Dallas discovers the truth about her—and finds the photo album documenting Morgan and Romeo’s relationship—she gains insight into the real Romeo and discovers his capacity for love.
Hettie
Hettie is another of the novel’s minor characters. She is a chef at Romeo’s Potomac mansion. She and Dallas meet when Dallas first moves into the house and immediately form a connection. Hettie “took this job straight from Le Cordon Bleu” because “it’s rent free and pays a ton” (68), but as Romeo’s private chef, she isn’t free to make the food she wants or to express herself through cooking the way she hoped. She thus appreciates that Dallas has a more adventurous palate than Romeo. She starts to make Dallas elaborate, decadent meals, which become a point of connection for them.
Hettie’s character offers Dallas female friendship in an environment that lacks opportunities for socialization. When Dallas meets Hettie, she immediately becomes “giddy from the prospect of having someone who actually talk[s] and behave[s] like she [is] living in the same era as [Dallas]” (68). Whereas Romeo is obsessed with rules, codes of conduct, and refinement, Hettie is “just like a friend from home, only cooler. And worldlier” (68). Throughout the novel, Hettie and Dallas spend more and more time together. They play games, watch television, eat sweets, and share secrets. Their lighthearted friendship offsets Dallas’s otherwise tense and complicated relationship with Romeo.
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