1. General Information
A) Rosemary’s baby
B) Ira Levin
C) English
D) 1967

2. Summary

Part one

Chapter 1:
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse have just signed a lease on an apartment on First Avenue when they get a phone call from another house agent: it is for an apartment in the Bramford. Rosemary really wants to live there so Guy calls the other agent and makes up an excuse so they can rent the other apartment. A few days later they go to the apartment to take a look at it. Rosemary really loves the place and Guy does as well.

Chapter 2:
A friend of Rosemary and Guy, Hutch says they shouldn’t rent the apartment in the Bramford. He says that a lot of strange things have happened there. There used to live witches and a lot of people are murdered there. A few days later they sign a lease on the apartment. They also buy some of the furniture of the previous owner.

Chapter 3:
Rosemary is very busy with buying all kinds of things for their apartment and she’s very happy. Guy is also very busy with his job. They meet some people that live in the apartment. When Rosemary goes to the basement to do the laundry she meets a girl named Terry. She used to be a drug-addict but now she’s clean and she lives with the Castevets. Mr. And Mrs. Castevet are Rosemary and Guy’s neighbours. She says a lot of good things about them. Terry and Rosemary agree that every time they have to do their laundry they go together because they both think the basement is a bit scary.

Chapter 4:
One night when Rosemary and Guy come back from a play they see two police cars by their apartment. Then they see someone lying on the floor, it’s Terry. The police say she killed herself. When Mr. And Mrs. Castevet come to see what’s going on they don’t seem to care about it. But when they see Terry’s body they do get emotional. Rosemary tells Mrs. Castevet that Terry told her a lot of great things about them. She’s very glad to hear that.
At night Rosemary has a dream about when she was just a little girl.

Chapter 5:
Mrs. Castevet (Minnie is her first name) comes over to Rosemary to take a look at the apartment. She also wants to thank Rosemary for the nice things she said about Terry. She is very nosy and she asks a lot of questions. The lady who used to live in the apartment was a friend of the Castevets. Minnie invites Rosemary and Guy for dinner that evening. Rosemary says it’s good but she has to ask Guy first. When Rosemary asks Guy if he wants to go he immediately says no. But after a while he says it’s okay because Rosemary wants to go.

Chapter 6:
Guy and Rosemary go to the Castevets. Their apartment is furnished very oddly.
Mr. Castevet, Roman is his first name, talks a lot about his past. He has traveled a lot and his father was a producer. His stories really interest Guy, who is an actor. The dinner is very bad, especially the desert is awful. When Rosemary and Guy are at home Guy says he’s going over to Roman the next evening to hear some more of his stories. Rosemary says she’s seen something strange in their apartment when she went to the bathroom: all the pictures were taken down.

Chapter 7:
That evening Guy goes over to the Castevets and Rosemary stays at home. Than the doorbell rings, it’s Minnie and her friend Laura-Louise McBurney. Minnie has a present for Rosemary; it is a necklace with a ball-charm. Inside the ball is tannis root, it’s for good luck Minnie says. But it smells really bad. The evening is very pleasant. When Guy comes home Minnie and Laura-Louise go home too. When Rosemary shows Guy the present she got and says she doesn’t want to wear it he says she has to wear it because she accepted it. But Rosemary takes it off. The following days Guy is being distant and has no time for Rosemary. One evening Guy’s waiting by the phone when he gets a phone call. His rival, Donald Baumgart, has suddenly become blind and tried to kill himself. Guy gets his part in a play. The other day Guy says he’s really sorry for his behaviour. He also says he wants to have a baby. Rosemary is very happy about this because she really wants to have a baby.

Chapter 8:
Rosemary gets a phone call from her sister Margaret. She says she had a feeling that something was wrong with Rosemary. But everything is okay. Rosemary cooks a lovely meal that evening. Minnie brings them a desert. After dinner Rosemary gets really dizzy, Guy says it’s because of the alcohol and he puts her to bed. He tells her to get some sleep. When Rosemary is asleep she has really strange dream: she’s on a cruise ship and a lot of people who live in their apartment are there too. She has to warn everybody because there is a typhoon coming their way. Then she comes in a huge ballroom. There’s a bed in it and she lays down on the bed. She hears Guy and Minnie talk. Then she falls asleep but she awakes when Guy begins to make love to her. But he isn’t making love to her, it’s like he’s almost raping here. Than all of a sudden Rosemary realizes this is no dream but it’s real. But she can’t say or do anything. Then the Pope stands beside her bed because she’s bitten by a mouse. She kisses his ring and he’s gone.

Chapter 9:
Guy wakes Rosemary that morning. She remembers everything that happened and then she sees she has scratches all over her body. Guy says the scratches are his fault. He made love to her while she was asleep because he didn’t want to miss baby-night. Rosemary is really angry and scared about this. The following days there’s a lot of distance between Rosemary and Guy. Rosemary thinks Guy doesn’t love her anymore. When she asks him what wrong he says there’s nothing, he’s just very busy with his job. And he says he still loves her very much.
Rosemary goes a few days to Hutches cabin near Brewster to take her mind off of Guy. But on the third day she really begins to miss him and she calls him. He says he misses her to and he will be waiting for her the next day when she comes home. The next morning Rosemary goes home. Guy says she’s pregnant because she still didn’t have her period. But Rosemary says it will come within a few days. They make a bet about it.

Chapter 10:
But Rosemary’s period doesn’t come within a few days. She makes an appointment with an obstetrician, Dr. Hill. The next day he calls her back and tells her she’s pregnant but the lab wants some more blood for some other tests. This kind of worries her but the doctor says there’s nothing wrong with her. When she tells Guy the news he’s really happy about it. He immediately wants to tell Minnie and Roman the news. Rosemary says it’s okay and Guy goes to their apartment. When he comes back Minnie and Roman are with him to congratulate Rosemary. Minnie says she knows a great obstetrician who is a friend of them. She says Rosemary should go and see him because he’s one of the best. Rosemary wants to stay with her other obstetrician but Minnie really insists on it. She calls him and makes an appointment for the next day.
That night when Rosemary lies in bed she can’t sleep because she’s very excited. Suddenly she remembers the good luck chain and she puts it on.

Part two

Chapter 1:
On her appointment with Dr.Sapirstein he says she shouldn’t talk with other woman about their pregnancy because they all are different. He also says Minnie will make her a vitamin drink every day. That afternoon Minnie brings her the drink, she stays till Rosemary has drunk it and then she leaves again. Everything is going well till Rosemary gets worse pains. She calls Dr. Sapirstein to make an appointment and he tells her the pain will be gone within two days. But the pains don’t go away in two days. When she tells the doctor this he says it will be gone very soon. But the pain began to be something that was always there. And Rosemary doesn’t go out anymore, she makes up excuses to stay at home.

Chapter 2:
Hutch comes over to see Rosemary. He says she looks awful. Then Rosemary tells him she’s pregnant. He also sees she had lost weight instead of gain weight, and thinks there’s something wrong with her. She also tells him about the pains and her doctor. Hutch knows Dr. Sapirstein, he delivered two of his daughter’s baby’s. Then Roman comes in. Rosemary tells Hutch about the drink Minnie is making for her every day and that there’s tannis root in it. Hutch says he never heard of that and that he will look it up. Roman leaves after a while and Hutch and Rosemary talk further about the Castevets. Guy comes home early and he’s surprised to see Hutch. When Hutch leaves one of his gloves is gone. That evening Rosemary gets a call from Hutch. He says he has to speak to her but he can’t say what’s wrong. They make an appointment for the next morning. Guy goes out to get some ice cream and he goes to the Castevets to ask if they also want ice cream.

Chapter 3:
Rosemary goes to her appointment with Hutch. She waits for a long time but he doesn’t show up. She calls her service to listen if he left a message for her but there’s no message. Than she calls Hutch’ apartment. A woman, named Grace, picks up the phone. She says Hutch became ill last night and that he’s in a deep coma. When Rosemary walks home she bumps into Minnie and together they take a taxi to the apartment.

Chapter 4:
Rosemary only does the things that have to be done: like cleaning and cooking. She barely comes out the apartment and is still in a lot of pain. She goes to the hospital to see Hutch two times. But that really makes her feel powerless and useless. One evening Rosemary has an idea, she wants to organise a party for her friends. She doesn’t want the Castevets or other people to come but only her friends because she hasn’t seen them for a long time. At first guy doesn’t like the idea because Rosemary isn’t feeling well but then he sees that she really misses her friends so he says it’s okay. When Minnie comes to bring Rosemary the drink she says she will drink it later on because she’s too busy. Minnie finally leaves and she throws the drink in the sink.

Chapter 5:
Almost all the people Rosemary and Guy have invited have come to the party. When Rosemary is alone in the kitchen with some of her girlfriends they talk about her pregnancy. Her friends think Rosemary’s doctor is an idiot because she’s in pain all the time. They tell her to get a second opinion. Rosemary promises she will go to another doctor. When everybody has left Rosemary tells Guy she’s going to see doctor Hill the next day to get a second opinion. Guy says she shouldn’t do that because they can’t afford it and he gets really angry. He says it’s not fair to Dr. Sapirstein. Rosemary also says she doesn’t drink Minnie’s drink anymore but she makes her own drink. While they argue suddenly the pain stops. Rosemary thinks she killed the baby with her drink but then than the baby moves.

Chapter 6:
Now the pain has stopped Rosemary feels really great. Everybody says she looks much better than before. She goes out more often and everything is going fine.
Than one day she gets the message that Hutch has died. She goes to his funeral alone, there she meets Grace. Grace has a book for Rosemary. Hutch told her to give it to Rosemary and she also had to say the name is an anagram.

Chapter 7:
Rosemary goes home and wants to read the book but then Minnie brings her drink. When she’s gone Rosemary takes the book, it’s about witches. She reads a part of the book and then she remembers the name is an anagram. She takes the scrabble set but she can’t find the anagram with the letters of the title. Then she sees the name Steven Marcato, he’s the son of Adrian Marcato who was a devil worshipper. And then she changes the name into Roman Castevet. When Guy comes in she tells him what she had just found out. But he doesn’t believe that the Castevets are witches. Rosemary thinks this will explain a lot, like Hutches dead; he had to die because he knew to much and the sudden blindness of Donald Baumgart.
She also thinks they are so nice to her because she’s pregnant and they use the blood and flesh of an unborn baby for their rituals. Guy says she’s crazy and wants her to give him the book. Finally she gives it to him and he puts it away.

Chapter 8:
When Rosemary tells Dr. Sapirstein about the Castevets he seems amazed about the news. He tells Rosemary they want to go away because Roman is ill. After this news she feels better because she was scared they would do something to her baby. That evening the Castevets come over and tell there are going to Europe on Sunday.
One morning Minnie says she knows that Rosemary knows who Roman’s father was because her behavior had changed. She says it doesn’t matter but she doesn’t want Roman to find out. The evening before they’re leaving there’s party for the Castevets at Laura-Loises apartment. The next morning Guy and Rosemary say goodbye to Roman and Minnie and watch them leaving. In the afternoon Rosemary wants to read the rest of the book she got form Hutch, but the book is gone. Guy says he through it away because he thought it would upset her even more. Rosemary is really angry about this because it was a present from her friend.

Chapter 9:
Rosemary’s contractions begin to come. They get a postcard from Paris from Minnie.
When Rosemary goes out to buy some envelopes she thinks about Guy’s strange behavior lately. All things begin to fall in place. Guy is one of them, a witch.
When she goes to her appointment with Dr. Sapirstein the assistant says Dr. Sapirstein also smells like tannis root. Rosemary says she has to say something to her husband who’s outside and leaves.

Chapter 10:
When Rosemary is outside she goes to a telephone booth to call Dr. Hill, a while later he calls her back. Rosemary says she has to see him and he tells her to come to his office. He also says he won’t tell anybody she called him. In the office she tells Dr. Hill everything about the Castevets, Dr. Sapirstein, Guy and all the people in their apartment and that she’s afraid they want her baby. He seems to believe her. Dr. Hill says her to lie down for a while and he will be right back. When he comes back Dr. Sapirstein and Guy are with him. They take her home.
They lay her down on the bed. When Guy and Dr. Sapirstein are out of the room Rosemary tries to call some of her friends but they all aren’t at home. Then Guy, Dr. Sapirstein and Mr. Fountain come back. Dr. Sapirstein says he’s going to give her an injection to calm her down but then Rosemary has a very strong contraction. Dr. Sapirstein says she’s in labor and suddenly gives her the injection. During the labor Rosemary can’t move or see anything.

Part three

Chapter 1:
Rosemary wakes up, Guy sits besides the bed. He says the baby is fine and it’s a boy. Then she falls asleep again. When she wakes up Laura-Louise is in the room. Rosemary asks where her baby is, Laura-Louise goes out to get Guy and Dr. Sapirstein. When they come in Dr. Sapirstein says there were complications and the baby is dead. Rosemary doesn’t believe them. Dr. Sapirstein gives her another injection. A few weeks later Rosemary thinks she hears a baby cry. And every time she hears the baby Dr. Sapirstein comes into her room to get some milk from here. And 5 minutes after he left the crying stopped.

Chapter 2:
The baby was in Minnie and Romans apartment. Rosemary could hear that when it cried. She knows her baby is still alive and she wants to get him back. Rosemary finds out there’s another way to get to the Castevets apartment, through the linen closet. One day she drugs Leah who is in the room with her and she goes through the closet to the other apartment. Than she hear Minnie talk. That’s strange because they were in Europe. All the people from the apartment are in the room. Nobody sees or hears here. Than Roman sees her. Someone tells her to get back to bed and asks where Leah is. Rosemary says she killed her and says she will stab to dead whoever comes close to her. Rosemary walks to the bassinet where the baby is lying. At first he looks like a normal baby but when he opens his eyes she sees that he has golden-yellow eyes. When she asks what they’ve done to his eyes Roman says he has his father’s eyes and his father is Satan. Minnie says Satan chose Rosemary out of all the woman in the world to get his son. Roman tries Rosemary to accept the baby so she will take care of him. Rosemary knows it’s still her baby. Than she decides she will take care of the baby. Roman says his name is Adrian Steven but Rosemary doesn’t agree with this she says his name is Andrew John and that’s it because it’s her child.

3. Title

A) The title of the book is Rosemary’s baby. I think this title is very appropriate because the main character in this book is Rosemary. And she and her husband are having a baby. Some strange things happen with Rosemary and in the apartment she and Guy life in and that all has to do with the baby Rosemary is carrying.

4. Setting

A) The story is situated in New York City in an apartment called The Bramford.
B) The story takes place in 1965.
C) The book is mostly chronological. Sometimes the writer uses flashbacks in the dreams of Rosemary. These dreams are often about her youth.

5. Characters

A) The main characters are Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse, Hutch, Minnie and Roman Castevet.
B) Rosemary Woodhouse: Rosemary is about 25 years old. She’s a very considerate wife but she’s sometimes a bit optimistic. She does everything her doctor says but she doesn’t ask why she should do it. She trusts people very quick and she doesn’t believe in herself. When people tell her something that isn’t the same as what she thought she thinks those people are right and she’s stupid.

Guy Woodhouse: Guy is about 34 years old. At first he’s a caring and loving husband but when he gets to now the Castevets he turns out to be an egoistic man and it’s like he doesn’t care about Rosemary anymore. He’s egoistic because he joins the witches only because they can make him a successful actor by making his rival blind. But for this success he has to sacrifice his wife and her baby. Her baby because it isn’t Guy’s but Satan’s baby.

Hutch: Hutch is fifty-four years old and is a very smart man who doesn’t want Rosemary and Guy to buy the apartment in the Bramford because some very strange things have happened there. He’s a very caring man and he’s very keen on Rosemary. He’s also a worried man, for example when Rosemary doesn’t look so good he tells her to go see a doctor.

Minnie and Roman Castevet: In the beginning Minnie seems to be a very nosy and nice old lady. And she takes good care of Rosemary, she brings her every day a so called ‘vitamin drink’ but in the end it’s clear there’s something wrong with the drink. Roman also seems to be a very nice old man but they both turn out to be witches. Roman’s real name is Steven Marcato, he’s the son of Adrian Marcato who also was a witch and a devil-worshipper. Roman is the leader of the witch group which contains almost all the people who are living in the Bramford.

C) There is character development. Especially Guy’s character changes during the story. From the caring, loving husband he used to be he turns into a selfish and busy man who
doesn’t even look at his wife. Roman and Minnie’s character don’t change because they only pretended to be very nice and caring to make sure that Rosemary wouldn’t find out what they really were doing. Rosemary’s character changes a bit, she’s not so optimistic anymore when she finds out about the witches and she doesn’t believe a word of what Guy is telling her after she found out.

6. Theme

The theme of this book is witchcraft and devil worshipping. The writer warns us not to trust people to quick or just believe what someone says. Because some people can pretend to be very nice and caring when they need something from you or for any other reason. And afterwards they can turn out to be different than you thought they were.

7. My opinion

In the beginning I didn’t like the book because it was a bit long-winded but after a while more things happened and some chapters of the book were very exciting. I just kept reading because I really wanted to know what would happen to Rosemary and her baby and who was a member of the witch group and who wasn’t. I liked the part about Rosemary’s pregnancy the most of the book because it’s about something that can happen to everyone. The pains and the behavior of her husband are things that can happen in real live. The part in which the baby is born and described is a bit unrealistic for me because I don’t believe in witches and the devil, but despite that in this part also happened some exciting things that took my mind off of the unrealistic side. I especially liked Hutch’s character because he’s someone who doesn’t just believe what anybody says but first thinks about it. I spent about 10 hours on reading the book. I didn’t really learn anything from reading this book. The message in the book wasn’t new for me.