Son of Satan

The Son of Satan is the child born to Rosemary Woodhouse and claimed by the coven as the living son of Satan. Roman Castevet declares that Satan, not Guy Woodhouse, fathered him and gives him the name Adrian; Minnie Castevet describes Rosemary as the woman Satan chose to bear his only living son. The title therefore joins a supernatural claim of paternity to a human history of controlled pregnancy and birth: the coven interprets the child as its promised figure, while Rosemary’s own wishes and access to care are repeatedly contested.

Identity and Prophecy

The child’s identity is disclosed after Rosemary finds him in a black bassinet and sees that the people around her understand him in terms she has not been told. When Roman says that the child has his father’s eyes, Rosemary answers by pointing out that Guy’s eyes are brown and demanding to know what has been done to the child. Roman then identifies Satan as the father and describes the birth as the arrival of a son begotten by Satan and a mortal woman. He casts that birth as vengeance against those who worship God, rather than as a private family event.

Roman makes the child’s name and destiny explicit: he is Adrian, who, in Roman’s proclamation, will overthrow the mighty, lay waste their temples, and avenge people who were burned and tortured. The coven answers Roman with repeated acclamations to Satan and Adrian. These declarations establish what the group believes the child will mean, but they do not establish that the promised future will occur. The distinction matters: the novel presents the coven’s certainty as a belief and a program, not as a demonstrated account of the child’s later actions.

Rosemary’s Pregnancy and Agency

The coven’s claim to the child’s identity overlays Rosemary’s earlier, ordinary desire for motherhood. At twenty-four, she wanted three children spaced two years apart, while Guy said he was not ready. She hoped to become pregnant despite his reluctance, making an effort to present the timing as accidental; he studied the calendar and avoided the days he considered dangerous. Their differing wishes turn conception into a private contest before the coven’s plan is revealed. Later, when Rosemary says that they have to make a baby, Guy puts the possibility off until the next day and reassures her that there is time.

During her pregnancy, Rosemary experiences severe pain and fears that the baby may die. When friends ask whether Abraham Sapirstein is treating her, she says he is doing nothing. She defends his reputation, but her friends argue that persistent pain is a warning and urge her to seek another opinion from Dr. Hill. Rosemary insists that she will not have an abortion; the others clarify that they are recommending another doctor, not an abortion. She then tells Guy she intends to see Dr. Hill because she believes the pain signals that something is wrong. These exchanges show her trying to protect the pregnancy while seeking information and care, rather than consenting to the coven’s understanding of what her pregnancy is for.

Birth Under Others’ Control

The circumstances of the birth sharply contrast with the coven’s language of choice and special favor. Rosemary expects to give birth at Doctors Hospital, with its equipment, nurses, and clean surroundings. Instead, when she is in labor, Guy enters with Mr. Fountain, followed by Abraham Sapirstein, Dr. Shand, Mrs. Fountain, and Mrs. Gilmore. They describe themselves as her friends and say they will not hurt her; Abraham Sapirstein presents an injection as a mild sedative. Their reassurances do not give Rosemary a meaningful choice about the care being offered.

Rosemary tries to resist and call for help. Guy and Mr. Fountain restrain her, and the group prevents her from getting away. As a contraction makes clear that she is in labor, Abraham Sapirstein changes course and gives her an injection. Guy continues to promise that she will be all right and asks her to stop fighting, even as the others keep her from leaving and the birth proceeds at home rather than at the hospital she expected. The episode makes the child’s arrival inseparable from the loss of Rosemary’s control over her body, her medical decisions, and the place of delivery.

The Coven’s Interpretation of the Child

Minnie tells Rosemary that Satan chose her from all women to be the mother of his only living son. She says the events that brought Rosemary and Guy to their apartment, including the disruption caused by Terry, were arranged so that Rosemary would bear the child. Her account turns incidents in Rosemary’s life into stages of a design and claims authority over their meaning. The revelation also reframes Rosemary’s marriage: Guy is the child’s human father, but the coven denies him that role in its religious story.

The group reinforces its claim through ritualized speech and gestures around the bassinet. Minnie directs Rosemary to look at the child’s hands and feet; Laura-Louise adds his tail, and Minnie points to the buds of his horns. The coven’s descriptions ask Rosemary to interpret the child through their account, while she repeatedly refuses to accept it. The conflict is not simply between belief and disbelief: the people surrounding her have already named the child, assigned him a father, and announced his purpose without granting her control over those decisions.

New Era and Narrative Significance

Roman places the birth within a timetable as well as a prophecy. He says the child arrived just after midnight on June 25 and treats the date as exactly half a year around from a date he does not name aloud. A visitor recalls that Edmond Lautréamont predicted June 25 three hundred years earlier, and Roman welcomes the prediction’s apparent accuracy. The date thus serves the coven as confirmation that its hopes fit a preexisting scheme.

Roman then declares that God is dead and announces Year One, the first year of a new era associated with Adrian. The coven echoes him with acclamations to Satan and Adrian. Its public celebration transforms the private fact of a birth into a claim to historical and religious power. Against this triumphant language, Rosemary’s repeated refusals and distress register the human cost concealed by the ceremony: the group celebrates the child as its own sign of victory, while his mother remains outside the account it has imposed on her.