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Deus ex machina
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===Ancient examples=== [[Aeschylus]] used the device in his ''[[The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'' but it became an established stage machine with [[Euripides]]. More than half of Euripides' extant tragedies employ a ''deus ex machina'' in their resolution and some critics claim that Euripides invented it, not Aeschylus.<ref>Rehm (1992, 72) and Walton (1984, 51).</ref> A frequently cited example is Euripides' ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' in which the ''deus ex machina'' is a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the sun god [[Helios]], used to convey his granddaughter [[Medea]] away from her husband [[Jason]] to the safety of Athens. In ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'', the heroine agrees to give up her own life to spare the life of her husband Admetus. At the end, [[Heracles]] appears and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and to Admetus. [[Aristophanes]]' play ''[[Thesmophoriazusae]]'' parodies Euripides' frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of the ''mechane''. The device produced an immediate emotional response in Greek audiences. They would have a feeling of wonder and astonishment at the appearance of the gods, which would often add to the moral effect of the drama.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cunningham |first1=Maurice P.|title=Medea ΞΞ Ξ ΞΞΞ§ΞΞΞΞ£|journal=Classical Philology |date=July 1954 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=151β160 |jstor = 265931 |doi = 10.1086/363788 |s2cid=163893448}}<!--|access-date=28 September 2014--></ref>
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