The Devil Made Me Do It

I am having one of those days. I look outside and see the wind blowing. I know the temperatures are dropping. It’s still technically winter. Spring is coming but she’s not here yet. (Now she is!) Days like this make me want to make a warm drink and sit under a blanket. But I want to write so what do I do? I put on the timer and I put on Rosemary’s Baby in the background. In other words, I set the scene. I show up to meet the muse.

The secret to success. Most of us seek it. There are those mindful people who live in the present and practice gratitude. They seek and find contentment. And my rational brain tells me, those people get it. But I’m a mere mortal. I’m still looking.

The looking. The seeking. That’s what is the impetus for the story of Rosemary’s Baby. And it’s not just the evil Guy Woodhouse, although he’s the one who stands out the most. Guy is an asshole, I mean, an actor. After telling Rosemary that he doesn’t want to get involved with the older couple next door, he quickly becomes enamored and attached to them. Like a fly to a spider, he’s drawn in. He wants it so bad that’s he’s willing to sacrifice his wife and their child to get it. However, it’s not his child, is it?

Guy proceeds to gaslight Rosemary for the entire movie. Right up until she spits in his face in the end. He gets off way, way too easily. ‘Sure, use my wife. They promised you wouldn’t get hurt, and you didn’t.’ What a piece of shit! But is she the only one being used? One may say, probably a toxic man, that Rosemary was using Guy as well to get what she wanted—a lovely home, the time to decorate, to nest, to be the little woman. But that is seriously reaching.

The Castevet’s want something too. They want the devil to walk on earth. They prey on Guy’s ego. (Guy is so weak.) They know they can get what they want. If Roman’s dad can conjure up the devil why, they’ll take it a step further. “Hail Satan. Here’s to the year one!” And everyone is in on it, including Dr. Sapirstein, the creepy gynecologist for the coven. There are layers, peel the onion. It stinks. Oh, that’s the tannis root.

The devil. HE wants it all. He’s behind everything. As with most religions, there is a promise. That’s part of belief, of faith. Guy, the coven, they all get what they want. And at who’s expense? Rosemary, the woman, the vessel, the victim. Procreation needs the woman. Men cannot create life on their own.

What kind of sacrifices have to happen in order to gain success? Getting what you want, but how? Can you have it all? Greed, envy. Negative forces. There are green eyed monsters everywhere. Who is the monster in Rosemary’s Baby? The coven, the devil himself?

It’s Guy. I know it’s Guy.