Female Agency and Witchcraft in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Rooted in pagan folklore, the witch is present in literature, film, and media. In diverse narratives, she appears both as the evil old hag and, recently, as the independent young woman who challenges established patriarchal norms. These representations stem from a long history of witchcraft accusations that portrayed women gathering at night to obtain supernatural powers by signing the Devil’s book. This pact granted women forbidden knowledge and autonomy that made them threatening for their communities. Influenced by twentieth-century feminist movements, contemporary productions such as Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) have reinterpreted the act of signing the book to discuss female agency in witchcraft narratives. This paper examines the impact of historical discourses on witchcraft, offering a critical revision of the figure of the witch and the act of signing the Devil’s book. From a gender studies perspective, the analysis is supported by a theoretical framework on the historical and folkloric background of the witch in English and Anglo-American culture, drawing on anthropological studies and historical sources. The analysis concludes that in contemporary narratives, the Devil’s book functions as a symbol that can reinforce and challenge patriarchal structures while offering new perspectives on female agency, identity, and power.