Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
"Rosemary's Baby" is a horror novel by Ira Levin that explores themes of paranoia, bodily autonomy, and the intersection of domestic life and sinister forces. The story follows Rosemary Woodhouse, a young woman who becomes pregnant after moving into the Bramford, a Victorian apartment building with a dark and troubling history. As her pregnancy progresses, Rosemary experiences strange symptoms and becomes suspicious of her neighbors, particularly an elderly couple, the Castevets, who seem overly invested in her well-being.
When Rosemary's friend warns her about the building's past, she begins to fear that she and her unborn child are targets of a satanic conspiracy involving her husband, Guy, and her doctor. The narrative intensifies as Rosemary faces isolation, pain, and betrayals, culminating in a shocking revelation about her baby’s true nature. The novel critiques societal expectations of motherhood while delving into the psychological horror of losing control over one's body and destiny. "Rosemary's Baby" remains a significant work in the horror genre, influencing both literature and film with its chilling portrayal of maternal sacrifice and existential dread.
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Subject Terms
Rosemary's Baby
First published: 1967
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—occult
Time of work: 1965-1966
Locale: New York City
The Plot
Rosemary’s Baby, playwright and novelist Ira Levin’s most famous work, was his first effort in the horror-fantasy genre. The novel charts the course of its protagonist’s unusual pregnancy and her slowly dawning belief that she and her baby are the targets of a satanic conspiracy involving her neighbors, her doctor, and even her husband.
When Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into the Bramford, a beautiful Victorian apartment building in New York, Rosemary’s friend Edward “Hutch” Hutchins warns them of the building’s notorious past, a history that includes murder, suicide, cannibalism, and witchcraft. Hutch’s concern seems prophetic when Rosemary’s first friend in the building, Terry Gionofrio, leaps to her death from a seventh-story window. Rosemary’s uneasiness is allayed by Minnie and Roman Castevet, an elderly couple down the hall who become close friends with Rosemary and Guy.
Guy, a struggling actor, finds amazing success after Donald Baumgart, the actor competing with him for a choice role, is suddenly stricken with unexplained blindness. Shortly afterward, during Pope Paul’s visit to New York, Rosemary has a strange, terrifying dream of a creature with leathery skin and yellow eyes. Soon she learns that she is pregnant. Minnie and Roman express unusual interest in her health and recommend their friend Abraham Sapirstein, a prominent obstetrician, to be her doctor.
As her pregnancy progresses, Rosemary finds herself caught up in a mysterious and frightening series of events. She endures months of severe, unremitting pain that Dr. Sapirstein dismisses as normal. She develops an aversion to salt and an appetite for raw meat; at one point, she unconsciously consumes part of a raw chicken heart. She and Guy become increasingly involved with the Castevets and their associates, neglecting their former friends. Eventually, Hutch is felled by a mysterious illness and dies, in a case parallel to that of Donald Baumgart.
After Hutch’s funeral, a friend of his gives Rosemary a book, All of Them Witches, a history of witchcraft and satanism. Rosemary discovers that Roman Castevet is actually Steven Marcato, the son of the infamous warlock Adrian Marcato, who claimed to have conjured the devil in 1896. Rosemary concludes that the Castevets and their friends are witches and warlocks who want to sacrifice her baby during a satanic ritual. She confides her fears to Guy and Dr. Sapirstein, only to discover that they, too, are part of the plot against her. Following a struggle, Rosemary goes into labor in the bedroom of her apartment.
Later, Dr. Sapirstein tells Rosemary that her baby died as a result of complications during the delivery. The sound of crying, however, draws Rosemary to the Castevets’ apartment, where she finds the coven of witches and warlocks (including Guy) surrounding a black bassinet. There she discovers her baby, whose inhuman yellow eyes remind Rosemary of her strange dream, a dream she now realizes is a memory of a real event. Roman proudly proclaims the boy to be the devil’s son, born to establish a satanic dominion on Earth. Rosemary is horrified, but her maternal instincts overcome her revulsion, and she accepts her role as the child’s mother, rocking its cradle and talking to it lovingly as the novel ends.