Rosemary's Baby

While Guy is with Roman the following evening, Minnie comes to visit Rosemary and brings her friend, Laura-Louise McBurney, who also lives in the building. Rosemary reluctantly invites them in, and Minnie gives Rosemary the charm necklace Terry had been wearing. Minnie says the spongy green substance inside is called tannis root, and Laura-Louise says she will get used to the bitter smell. They spend the evening talking about politics and their childhoods. When Guy returns home, he is oddly quiet, and Minnie and Laura-Louise leave quickly.

Rosemary takes the necklace off, explaining its origin to Guy and saying she doesn’t want to wear it because of the smell. Guy says the smell isn’t that bad and she should wear it, but she consigns it to a drawer.

A day or two later, Guy’s vocal coach, Dominick, gives him two tickets to The Fantasticks. Guy tells Rosemary to go with Hutch so he can stay home and work on a scene. Rosemary instead goes with her friend Joan, who tells her over dinner and she and her husband are separating. Rosemary reflects on how distant Guy had been lately. When she returns home, Guy is getting out of the shower and is clearly in a better mood. The entire bedroom smells like tannis root. They have enthusiastic sex and overhear a party at the Castavets’. Rosemary notes a “flat, unmusical singing” (72), almost like chanting, accompanied by the same flute she heard before.

Guy’s good mood continues as he helps Rosemary work on the apartment. She notices that he is paying unusually close attention to the phone and always grabs it on the first ring. Finally, someone calls to tell him that Donald Baumgart suddenly went blind and was confined to a psychiatric hospital after trying to hang himself. Guy has been given Donald’s part in the play. He goes for a walk, saying he needs to absorb the information. Rosemary watches from the window seat, waiting to see him walk out the front door of the building, but he never appears. She assumes he used a different door.

Later, Guy seems tense and nervous and watches her closely. He finally apologizes for his behavior, saying he has been worrying that Donald Baumgart will regain his sight. He promises that even if his career never takes off, he will treat Rosemary well, and he suggests they have a baby.

Content Warning: This chapter contains depictions of rape via non-consensual drug use.

On October 4, Rosemary keeps the TV on so she can follow the Pope’s activities during his visit; she hopes his speech at the United Nations headquarters will help ease tensions about Vietnam. That afternoon, her estranged sister Margaret calls, saying she had a feeling that something bad had happened to Rosemary. Rosemary says she is fine, and Margaret shares her own news: She’s pregnant. Before they hang up, Margaret makes Rosemary promise not to go anywhere that night.

Guy comes home late that evening. They talk about the Pope and his antiwar speech while eating dinner in front of the fire. Guy opens the flue and turns on the air conditioner after the room fills with smoke. Minnie stops by to drop off two chocolate mousses. Rosemary’s has a chalky taste, but Guy becomes annoyed when she doesn’t want to eat it. She defiantly shoves some large bites into her mouth but hides the rest in her napkin.

Rosemary feels dizzy and assumes she had too much to drink. Guy helps her to the bedroom, telling her she needs to sleep. She says they agreed to have a baby, and he promises they will have sex the next night. Rosemary falls asleep and dreams she is on President Kennedy’s yacht. At the same time, she is aware that Guy is taking off her pajamas and her wedding ring. She senses she is being carried through the hallway linen closet. She hears someone say to Guy that Rosemary is too high. On the yacht, everyone is gone except for the Black first mate, who she senses hates all white people. He tells her to go below deck, and when she does, she finds herself in a ballroom. On one side is a burning church, and on another side is a bearded man. She lies down and is surrounded by a group of naked people, including Guy, Minnie, and Laura-Louise. Roman draws strange designs on her body. The group is chanting a flat tune accompanied by a flute or clarinet. Guy whispers to Minnie that Rosemary is awake, but Minnie says she cannot see or hear anything. Jackie Kennedy appears, saying Rosemary’s legs should be tied down in case of convulsions. Rosemary becomes aware that Guy is having rough sex with her. She enjoys it until she notices that he is wearing a leathery suit, has yellow eyes, and smells like tannis root and sulfur. She realizes she isn’t dreaming and tries to resist, but something smothers her face and keeps her from moving.

Rosemary then dreams that the Pope visits her. She apologizes for not coming to see him, and he tells her she is forgiven. She kisses his ring, which features a small silver ball containing an even tinier Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Guy wakes Rosemary the next morning, and she remembers her dream. She notices scratches on her body, and Guy admits he had sex with her even though she was unconscious. She tells him she dreamed someone inhuman was raping her during a ritual. Guy apologizes, saying he was drunk.

Rosemary makes breakfast and takes a shower, wondering if Guy is telling the truth. She realizes that she has ignored troublesome signals and wonders what he might be hiding from her. Later, she runs into Minnie and pretends to have enjoyed the mousse.

Rosemary acknowledges that there is now a distance between her and Guy. He spends more time in rehearsals, and when they are together, he seems distracted. Rosemary tries to talk about the awkwardness, but Guy is dismissive, saying he has other things on his mind.

Hutch agrees to let Rosemary stay in his cabin in upstate New York so Guy can have some space. Hutch also brings up Terry’s suicide, which he read about. Rosemary admits she knew Terry and tells him about the Castavets.

Rosemary leaves the city on October 16 and stays at the cabin for five days. For the first two days, she doesn’t think about Guy and simply relaxes. On the third day, she realizes that Guy married her—a naive younger woman—simply to have an audience. She decides to give him one year to become a good husband or she will divorce him. On the fourth day, however, she starts missing Guy and wonders if what he did was really so terrible. The next day, she decides that he was “thoughtless and self-absorbed” (100), but she should have communicated her unhappiness. She calls Guy and tells him she is coming home. He tells her rehearsals have been postponed until January, but he will shoot a television pilot in the meantime. The job came out of nowhere.

The next day, Guy greets her lovingly. He points out that her period was due two days ago. She says it’s no big deal, and he bets her a quarter that she is pregnant.

Rosemary’s period still hasn’t come. She goes to an obstetrician, Dr. Hill, who confirms that she is pregnant. He tells her to start taking prenatal vitamins and see him again in a month. He also asks her to go to the lab for another blood test, which Rosemary finds suspicious despite his assurances that everything is fine.

That night, Rosemary hands Guy a quarter, and they kiss. She wants to make “a new beginning” (106), and Guy agrees, admitting that he has been too self-centered lately. He says he wants to tell Minnie and Roman, and Rosemary lets him, realizing that the Castavets have become surrogate parents to Guy. Minnie tells Rosemary she should go to Dr. Abe Sapirstein, a famous obstetrician and close friend of the Castavets. Rosemary agrees, and Minnie makes an appointment for the following morning. They toast to the pregnancy, and Rosemary asks them not to share the news with anyone else.

That night, Rosemary is too excited to sleep. She thinks about how many dangers exist in the world and wishes she could still pray. She remembers the tannis root good luck charm and gets out of bed to put on the necklace, finding the smell suddenly tolerable.