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Rosemary's Baby Book Report
Rosemary's Baby Book Report
Submitted To:
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Table of Contents
Introduction ………………………………………………….. 1
Subject ………………………………………………….. 2
Setting ………………………………………………….. 3
Conclusion …………………………………………………. 17
Introduction:
The main reason I chose this novel is because I am a big fan of horror-
suspense-mystery type of movies. This novel caught my attention and I began
reading it. The novel is entitled Rosemary’s Baby a 1967 best-selling horror
novel by Ira Levin. It is considered as one of the modern-day horror and I,
myself can prove that it is really terrifying and chilling. Once you begin reading
it you can’t keep on turning on the pages. It induces you to believe the
unbelievable. The suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents.
The author, Ira Levin was born and lives in New York City. At an early
age, he became fascinated with magic and quickly developed love for theater.
He liked detective stories and began to acquire mystery books. He also
became fond of Anagrams. In his adulthood he had written many books that
became international bestsellers. He is a two-time winner of the Mystery
Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award and also received the Horror
Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for lifetime achievement. He
published a sequel titled, Son of Rosemary in 1997. He died on November 12,
2007 from a heart attack.
Subject:
The book centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, a young woman who with
her husband Guy, a struggling actor, has just moved into the Bramford, an old
Gothic style New York City. In that place they experienced many weird things
that affected and changed their whole life.
Setting:
The story took place at one of the Victorian apartment in Bramford a
medium-sized village just to the west of Ipswich, Suffolk and in the Mid Suffolk
administrative district, between the years 1970-1972.
Main Characters:
ROSEMARY WOODHOUSE
GUY WOODHOUSE
He is a 54 year old English man. He’s smart and very nice to talk with.
He’s an author. He acted as a second father to Rosemary. He treats
Rosemary as his own daughter and even send it to college.
MINNIE CASTEVETS
ROMAN CASTEVETS
He is the husband of Minnie. A tall and shuffling man around the age of
75. He is a good husband to Minnie. He is very hospitable to visitors and
loves to tell stories of his own life. He is like a second father to Guy.
Plot:
Guy and Rosemary already signed a five-year lease on a five room
apartment on First Avenue when they received a news that a four-room
apartment in Bramford is available. The apartments here are known for their
fireplaces and Victorian detail which happens to be their dream home even
before they get married. Because of this, they think of ways to cancel the
lease contract they already signed. Luckily they succeed and get the chance
to get the Bramford.
The next day Guy and Rosemary signed a 2-year lease on apartment
7E at the Bramford. They are told that they could take occupancy of the
apartment at an earlier time. So they began to move into the apartment and
unpack a few of their possessions. To brighten up their new abode, the interior
of the apartment is painted, decorative wallpaper is hung, and new carpet is
laid. Rosemary, like any other wife is very fond in interior designing. They
bought a sofa set, a king size bed, some decorative ornaments and an air
conditioner. As a reward to what they have accomplished they decided to
make love. They both undress and began kissing. Since the day they heard
the story of Hutch, Guy would always tell a joke about the Trench sisters or
Adrian Marcato.
A few days later, Minnie paid a visit. Rosemary didn’t expect the visit.
Minnie was a friend of Mrs. Gardenia and was shocked with the changes the
couples did with the interiors of the whole room. Rosemary told her intrusive
guest that she has a nursery and was planning to have a baby. Minnie was
very happy upon hearing it. She then invited the couple to come over their flat
and join them for supper. Guy returned home for lunch after being passed
over in a Broadway audition for an acting part and agreed to attend the
Castevet’s dinner engagement with Rosemary.
They are served with vodka blush drinks by their host. Roman boasted
his world travel which got Guy’s attention. During their conversation, they
talked about the Pope’s impending visit and fatuous religiosity. The arrival of
the Pope was uncertain because of newspaper strike. Rosemary was a bit
offended and mentioned her Catholic upbringing. Roman stressed out his
point that anyone don’t need to have respect for the Pope because he’s only
pretending that he’s holy. The dinner talk then turned toward Guy’s acting
career and methods. Roman praised him and thinks he’s very authentic. After
returning from home, Rosemary observed how the Castevets strangely
removed their pictures from the wall, leaving only hooks and clean spaces.
Hutch was left alone with Roman.
The next evening Guy visited next door to hear some of Roman’s
stories. Minnie introduced to Rosemary their 12 th floor neighbor, Laura-Louise.
During their conversation, Minnie gave Rosemary a tannis root charm-the one
worn by Terry. Rosemary didn’t like the odd smell of the charm. When Guy
returned, he proposed Rosemary to wear it, but Rosemary just placed it inside
a jewelry box. In an unusual circumstance, Guy soon acquired an acting role.
The actor who had been chosen over him for a key role in a play is
unexpectedly and suddenly got blind. Guy remarked that it was his instant
success.
Guy had changed since the day he had taken his new role. He now
became self-centered, vain, pre-occupied and self-absorbed. Guy almost
forgot that he had a wife due to his absence because of many rehearsals.
Rosemary was very sad and depressed because Guy did not have enough
time for her. But still she understands him, he’s an actor and that’s normal.
One day, Rosemary arrived and found a bouquet of red roses placed
throughout the house. Guy apologized for being a creep. Then, he abruptly
proposed for them to have a baby. Soft music playing on the phonograph, a
cozy fire in the fireplace, and a candlelight dinner served as a prelude for an
evening of love-making. Minnie interrupted them and brought a strange
dessert for each of them-two tall white cups filled with chocolate mousse
topped with whipped cream. After a few bites, Rosemary detected a chalky
undertaste and quitted eating, but Guy insisted that she have more to have
respect and to remain neighborly. While he was changing the record, she
scooped out the remaining mousse into her napkin to discard it.
Later that night, Guy watched TV with live coverage of the Pope
mobbed by crowds at Yankee Stadium. Rosemary became dizzy and
disoriented after eating some of Minnie’s chocolate mousse and putted in the
bed. In a hallucinatory scene that impersonated a black mass, she imagined
being on a mattress drifting on the ocean, and then as a passenger on a
presidential yacht. A John F. Kennedy transformed into an older man who
points out to the sea. Rosemary asked a passenger later why Hutch, who is
left on the dock, isn’t allowed to board. She’s told because he isn’t catholic.
Guy completely undressed her until she is shivering and naked. She
saw images including the Birth of Man paintings on the Sistine Chapel ceiling,
a typhoon at sea, and a naked descent into the hold of the ship where fire
burns. Rosemary was laid on a mattress. She is surrounded by many
chanting, naked figures, including Guy, Roman, and Minnie. A bloody-red
liquid is painted on Rosemary’s bare chest. A person resembling Mrs. John F.
Kennedy descended a staircase and suggested her legs to be tied down in
case of convulsions. Attendants spread her legs apart and binded them. In her
dream-like sleep, Guy began making love to her, but then his appearance
changed into a beast-like figure resembling the Devil, with yellowish ayes and
clawed scaly hands. He stroked the length of her body with his hairy claw.
Three weeks from the unexpected delivery date, Rosemary packed her
hospital suitcase for her trip to the hospital. Then, she received a phone call
that Hutch has tragically died. After the burial ceremony at the cemetery,
Rosemary was handed a book from one of Hutch’s friends, Grace Cardiff. She
was told that the title of the book was Anagram. Back at her apartment, before
Rosemary can even open the brown-paper wrapped, unmailed book/package
from Hutch, Minnie delivered the daily concoction. Rosemary finds privacy to
slit open the twine-tied package. The book is titled “All of them Witches”. One
section of the book is underlined-it regards the discovery made by Hutch
about the tannis-root. In their rituals, they often use the fungus called Devil's
Pepper. This is a spongy matter derived from swampy regions having a strong
pungent odor. Devil's Pepper is considered to have special powers. It has
been used in rituals and worn on charms. Another chapter is about Adrian
Marcato. Born in Glasgow in 1846, he was soon after brought to New York.
He became interested in Black Magic. Soon, he left England and devoted
himself completely to Satanism. The peak of his popularity was in 1899 when
he claimed to have called forth Satan and was attacked by a mob outside the
Bramford. A dog-eared page illustrated a picture of Marcato with his wife and
thirteen-year old son Steven. Rosemary contemplated the truth of it all. She
retrieved a Scrabble board game and used the game letters to spell out ALL
OF THEM WITCHES, arranging them into COMES WITH THE FALL, ELF
SHOT LAME WITCH, and HOW IS HELL FACT ME. Suddenly he opened the
book and saw the word Steven underlined. She spelled out STEVEN
MARCATO and gradually figured out that an anagram-repositioning spells
ROMAN CASTEVET- the son of Adrian Marcato. When Guy returned, she told
Roman is the son of a famous martyred witch. She even showed him the
picture of Steven Marcato when he was thirteen. According to the book,
Steven was born in 1886 that makes him 79 now. No coincidence. Rosemary
deduced that the next-door Castevets and their friends have formed a
ritualistic congregation of witches, and that her unborn baby’s blood will be
used in their rituals. The parties with the singing and the flute and the chanting
those are Sabbaths. They use blood in their rituals and the blood that has the
most power is the baby’s blood. And they don’t just use blood, they use the
flesh too. Rosemary convinced Guy to sub-let and move out. Guy claimed that
they are only old people. He doesn’t believe Rosemary and removed the book
from her shaky hands and placed it high on a bookshelf.
Rosemary hurriedly left her apartment with her hospital suitcase and
rushes to see Dr. Sapirstein in his office for an unscheduled visit. While in the
waiting room the talkative office receptionist off-handedly mentioned that Dr.
Sapirstein also wore a smelly tannis root charm-marking him as a member of
the witch’s coven. Rosemary frantically excused herself and walked to a
corner phone booth where she placed a call to Dr. Hill. She explained her
present doctor isn’t good. It was lying to her and gave her unusual kinds of
drinks and capsules. In a paranoid, she requested that she deliver her
expected baby in the next few days. After begging Dr. Hill for an appointment,
he reluctantly agreed to an 8:00 pm office visit.
That evening in Dr. Hill's office, Rosemary explained how her husband
Guy was integrally involved in the coven's plot. She told him how he lied to Dr.
Hill about them leaving the city for Hollywood, and now slept in pajamas to
hide a suspicious mark of coven membership. The tormented mother rambled
incoherently about her fantastic suspicions that her next-door neighbors hold
rituals, and that her husband participated with them . They're very clever
people. They planned everything right from the beginning. They probably
made some sort of deal with Guy. They gave him success and he promised to
use their baby in their rituals. Rosemary shared what happened to Donald
Baugmart and EdwardHutchins and even the tannis root. Rosemary sighed
when Dr. Hill apparently concurred with her assessments and suggested
admitting her into Mt. Sinai Hospital that evening. While she lied down to rest
in an adjoining office, he purportedly makes calls to arrange for her hospital
admission. Rosemary was rest assured because she is in good hands. But Dr.
Hill phoned Dr. Sapirstein and Guy explaining that she is experiencing mental
breakdown and normal pregnancy hysteria. Dr. Sapirstein and Guy are
brought in the room, they instructed Rosemary to come with them quietly and
don’t make any scene otherwise they will be forced to take her to a mental
hospital.
She suspected the truth about her kidnapped baby later that night
when she heard a distant sound of a crying infant through the wall in the
Castevets next-door apartment. Ironically, she is expected to express breast
milk and continue taking sedative pills while closely watched by Laura-Louise
and Mrs. Gilmore. Late one night, Rosemary sneaked into the Castevets
apartment through the closet passageway with a kitchen knife upraised in her
hand. There, she found a coven of witches including Guy, surrounding a
black-draped baby cradle to pay their respects. It is a presentation of the
Adoration of the Satanic Magi with visitors coming to view the baby from all
parts of the globe. A framed portrait of Adrian Marcato hanged above the
fireplace. Mrs. Gilmore and other women belonging to the group of coven
restricted Rosemary told her to go back to her room. Rosemary was not
surprised of the group, her suspicions are right all along. The Castevets are
there, believing that they were on a tour. She walked slowly over the cradle to
see her baby in the bassinet. Her eyes widen in terror because the baby’s
eyes were golden-yellow, with neither whites nor irises, with vertical black slit
pupils. Rosemary felt sorry for his baby and then she is told the truth. She
realized that she was impregnated by the Devil and the baby is her offspring
with Satan. Later on they praised Satan. Rosemary was in a state of shock
and noticed her baby has claws and tail. She remembered her dream that
something unhuman was raping her, it’s not a dream it really happened. Out
of all the women in the world she was chosen by Satan to be his wife. They
don’t force Rosemary to join their coven, they just want her to act as a mother
to the baby. Rosemary rejected the devil-worshipping coven but accepted the
reality of the situation and showed an instinctive mothering role and maternal
instinct toward the baby. Rosemary gently rocked the child to sleep. Others
gather around to watch, praising them both.
Turning Point:
Every couple suffers from relationship problems. Rosemary and Guy
argued many times. Career and Time was their common problem. Guy was
not able to budget his time with his wife and his career. This developed a gap
between them. Rosemary understands Guy, he was an actor, it’s only normal.
Rosemary needs to adjust. This problem did not last, with Guy romantically
asking Rosemary to have a baby. Rosemary’s loneliness was now turned into
happiness because she really wanted to have a baby.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this book to everyone. This novel was very great.
You wouldn’t expect what would happen. It’s full of surprises and revelations.
Anyone will enjoy reading it and would feel the same fright that I felt when I
read the book.
One thing I learned from this novel is evil can wear the most innocent
face of all. We have to be careful of trusting a person. Sometimes what we
see from the outside is different from the inside. We would never know it until
they do something wrong to us or to our family.
I get really hooked on this book. It has a splendid story and the
transition of story was really great. The aspect that really appealed me was
the recognition and revelation of the whole truth. It made me feel so crazy and
I was very surprised. I felt sorry for Rosemary, she was a victim and fooled by
all. Also, the part where Rosemary read the book that focused on the
Anagrams.
The characters are likeable. I love all their roles and its relationship to
the story. Ira Levin was a magnificent author. You cannot expect what he is
thinking of. The story was fast paced. The transition was somewhat fast but
not too slow.