Editing Deus ex machina (section)

===Modern theatrical examples===
[[File:Set design Act5 of Andromède by P Corneille 1650 - Gallica 2010.jpg|thumb|Characters ascend into heaven to become gods at the end of the 1650 play ''[[Andromède]]''.]]
[[Shakespeare]] uses the device in ''[[As You Like It]]'', ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]]'', and ''[[Cymbeline]]''.<ref>Rehm (1992, 70).</ref> [[John Gay]] uses it in ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'' where a character breaks the action and rewrites the ending as a reprieve from hanging for MacHeath. <!--- NOTE: The following is hidden because A) the first sentence is utterly incomprehensible, and B) it borders on original research and does not further this section: In both plays, the ''deus ex machina'' happens with breaking the dramatic illusion often in the form of an episodic narrator exposing the play itself and laying bare the author. This is different from the use of the ''deus ex machina'' in the ancient examples with the ending coming from a participant in the action in the form of a god. It is natural for the gods to be considered participants and not outside sources because of their privileged position and power. These attributes allow the Greek gods to believably wrap up and solve the series of events.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dunn|first1=Francis M|title=Tragedy's End : Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama: Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, New York}}</ref>---> During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th centuries, the ''deus ex machina'' was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. For example, in the final scene of [[Molière]]'s ''[[Tartuffe]]'', the heroes are saved from a terrible fate by an agent of the compassionate, all-seeing King [[Louis XIV]] – the same king who held Molière's career and livelihood in his hands.<ref>[http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dfs_18/dfs_18_00023.html "Tartuffe: Novel Guide"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121065505/http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/dfs_18/dfs_18_00023.html |date=2012-01-21 }}. 2003. Retrieved 2&nbsp;November 2011.</ref>