ABSTRACT
Celestina was written shortly after the Malleus Malificarum which was to inspire a series of important sixteenth- and seventeenth-century witch persecutions. This chapter discusses that the alternative anti-paternalistic society of empowered women and weak men which Celestina creates is at the same time seductive and destructive. Celestina’s spell includes the calling up of Satan and an apparent pact with the Devil, thereby straying from the realms of sorcery into that of witchcraft. Alan Deyermond’s work on witchcraft in the text of Celestina is particularly fruitful. He examines how the Devil enters the skein of thread when Celestina casts her spell, and then moves on to Melibea’s girdle which Celestina procures for Calisto and her own witchcraft purposes, and then on to the gold chain with which Calisto rewards Celestina. In the process the Devil infects everyone who touches these items and creates the final tragedy.
