<![CDATA[This study examines necromancy and the crisis of Renaissance subjectivity in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. It argues that Faustus’s pursuit of forbidden knowledge reflects the broader intellectual and religious tensions of the Renaissance, particularly the growing conflict between humanist aspirations and traditional theological authority. By approaching necromancy as both a dramatic topos and a form of cultural discourse, the study presents Faustus as an ambivalent figure caught between the desire for self-fashioning and the fear of spiritual damnation. His pact with Mephistopheles embodies a central paradox of Renaissance individuality: in seeking to transcend the limitations of human existence and achieve unprecedented autonomy, Faustus ultimately moves toward self-destruction. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from theology, the history of science, and early modern cultural studies, this study contends that Marlowe’s play dramatizes the instability of the Renaissance self at the intersection of medieval religious determinism and emerging notions of individual autonomy. From this perspective, Doctor Faustus is not merely a morality tragedy but a profound exploration of the psychological, theological, and ideological tensions underlying the formation of early modern identity.Keywords: Renaissance, Subjectivity, Necromancy, Magic, Power, Pride, Ambition, Humanism]]>
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