Editing Deus ex machina

{{short description|Contrived device to resolve the plot of a dramatic work}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Medea rappresentation (2009) 07.JPG|thumb|''Deus ex machina'' in Euripides' ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'', performed in 2009 in Syracuse, Italy; the sun god sends a golden chariot to rescue Medea.]]

'''''Deus ex machina''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|eɪ|ə|s|_|ɛ|k|s|_|ˈ|m|æ|k|ɪ|n|ə|,_|ˈ|m|ɑː|k|-}} {{respell|DAY|əs|_|ex|MA(H)K|in|ə}};<ref>''[[Random House Dictionary]]''</ref> {{IPA|la|ˈdɛ.ʊs ɛks ˈmaːkʰɪnaː|lang}}; plural: ''dei ex machina''; 'God from the machine')<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Beckson|first1=Karl E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2NkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Deus+Ex+Machina%22+%22god+out+of+the+machine%22|title=A Reader's Guide to Literary Terms: A Dictionary|last2=Ganz|first2=Arthur F.|date=1961|publisher=Noonday Press|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-11-03|title=Deus Ex Machina - Examples and Definition|url=https://literarydevices.net/deus-ex-machina/|access-date=2021-04-23|website=Literary Devices|language=en-US}}</ref> is a [[plot device]] whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence.<ref>{{cite dictionary | title=deus ex machina | dictionary=Merriam-Webster | access-date=23 Apr 2018 | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deus%20ex%20machina}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/art/deus-ex-machina | title=Deus ex machina | website=Encyclopaedia Britannica | access-date=23 Apr 2018}}</ref> Its function is generally to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a [[happy ending]], or act as a comedic device.<ref>{{Cite web|title=God Out of the Machine – Theatrical Literary Devices - Oxford Study Courses|url=https://oxfordstudycourses.com/blog/god-out-of-the-machine-theatrical-literary-devices|access-date=2021-04-23|website=oxfordstudycourses.com| date=14 September 2015 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Origin of the expression==
''Deus ex machina'' is a Latin [[calque]] {{ety|gre|''ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός'' (apò mēkhanês theós)|god from the machine}}.<ref>One of the earliest occurrences of the phrase is in fragment 227 of [[Menander]]: ἀπὸ μηχανῆϛ θεὸς ἐπεφάνηϛ "You are by your epiphany a veritable god from the machine", as quoted in ''The Woman Possessed with a Divinity'', as translated in ''Menander: The Principal Fragments'' (1921) by [[:de:Francis Greenleaf Allinson|Francis Greenleaf Allinson]].</ref> The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought on stage using a machine. The machine could be either a crane (''[[mechane]]'') used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought them up through a trapdoor. [[Aeschylus]] introduced the idea and it was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. The device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, although it also appeared in comedies.<ref name="machine">{{cite journal |last1=Chondros |first1=Thomas G. |last2=Milidonis |first2=Kypros|last3=Vitzilaios |first3=George |last4=Vaitsis|first4=John |title="Deus-Ex-Machina" reconstruction in the Athens theater of Dionysus |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |date=September 2013 |volume=67 |pages=172–191 |doi=10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2013.04.010}}<!--|access-date=15 December 2014--></ref>

===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 ΑΠΟ ΜΗΧΑΝΗΣ|journal=Classical Philology |date=July 1954 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=151–160 |jstor = 265931 |doi = 10.1086/363788 |s2cid=163893448}}<!--|access-date=28 September 2014--></ref>

===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>

==Plot device==
[[Aristotle]] (in the Poetics 15 1454b1) was the first to use a Greek term equivalent to the Latin phrase ''deus ex machina'' to describe the technique as a device to resolve the plot of tragedies.<ref name=machine /> It is said by one person to be undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it damages the story's internal logic and is often so unlikely that it challenges the reader's [[suspension of disbelief]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_D.html |title=Literary Terms and Definitions: D |author= Dr. L. Kip Wheeler |access-date=2008-07-26}}</ref>

===Examples===
* ''[[Avengers: Endgame]]'' writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely admitted the time travel plot device in the 2019 film was the result of having written themselves into a corner in [[Avengers: Infinity War|the previous movie]].<ref>[https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2477366/even-the-avengers-endgame-writers-admit-time-travel-is-ludicrous Even The Avengers: Endgame Writers Admit Time Travel Is Ludicrous]</ref> Also, the sudden arrival of [[Carol Danvers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Captain Marvel]] in the climax of the film has been criticized as bordering on a ''deus ex machina'' because "her late arrival to the final battle ... feels like a function of her powers being too strong".<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/04/27/avengers-endgame-gets-captain-marvel-so-wrong-spoilers/3572243002/ How did 'Avengers: Endgame' get Captain Marvel so wrong?]</ref>
* The [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|Great Eagles]] in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' carrying [[Frodo]] and [[Samwise Gamgee|Samwise]] out of [[Mordor]] have been critiqued as a ''deus ex machina''.<ref name=worst>{{Cite web|url=https://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/top-10-deus-ex-machina-moments/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502180545/https://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/top-10-deus-ex-machina-moments/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-05-02|title=Top 10 Deus Ex Machina moments}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRvHDwAAQBAJ&dq=deus+ex+machina+eagles+Tolkien+OR+%22lord+of+the+rings%22&pg=PA184 | title=Fantasies of Time and Death: Dunsany, Eddison, Tolkien | isbn=9781137518385 | last=Vaninskaya | first=Anna |author-link=Anna Vaninskaya | date=26 December 2019 | publisher=Springer }}</ref>
* ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'': A passing navy officer rescues the stranded children. [[William Golding]] called that a "gimmick"; other critics view it as a ''deus ex machina''. The abrupt ending conveys the terrible fate that would have afflicted the children if the officer had not arrived at that moment.<ref>{{cite book |title=William Golding's Lord of the Flies |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Harold |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1ZJcFqQ7V8C&q=Lord+of+the+Flies,+deus+ex+machina&pg=PA67 |pages=67–68 |chapter=Grief, grief, grief: ''Lord of the Flies'' |first=Lawrence S. |last=Friedman |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2008|isbn=9780791098264 }}</ref>
* ''[[Oliver Twist]]'': [[Charles Dickens]] used the device when Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Agnes, and therefore Oliver's aunt; she marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, allowing Oliver to live happily with his savior Mr. Brownlow.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Glossary of Literary Terms |editor-last=Abrams |editor-first=MH |pages=44–45 |publisher=Harcourt Brace & Company, USA |year=1993 }}</ref>
* ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'': The Martians in H. G. Wells's novel have destroyed everything in their path and apparently triumphed over humanity, but they are suddenly killed by bacteria.<ref name=Greenwood>{{cite book |editor1-last=Westfahl |editor1-first=Gary |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 1 |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0313329516 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SQMQQyIaACYC&pg=PA195 195] }}</ref>

==In medicine==
In [[medicine]], the phrase is often used for supposedly "magical remedies" which are not likely to work in practice. For example, in the [[COVID-19 pandemic|2020 COVID-19 outbreak]], when [[double lung transplantation]] for terminal COVID-19 patients was suggested, it was immediately denounced as a ''deus ex machina.''<ref name="Wadowski_2020">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wadowski BJ, Bacchetta M, Kon ZN| title = Beware the Deus Ex Machina of COVID-19 | journal = Ann Thorac Surg  | volume = 110 | issue = 6 | pages = 1787–1788| date = December 2020 | doi =10.1016/j.athoracsur.2020.08.001 |pmid = 32871108 | pmc= 7455797}}</ref> In 2006, when electronic fetal heart monitoring was being touted as a preventive measure for [[cerebral palsy]], ''[[The New England Journal of Medicine]]'' denounced it as ''deus ex machina''.<ref name="Greene_2006">{{cite journal | vauthors = Greene MF| title = Obstetricians still await a deus ex machina | journal = N Engl J Med | volume = 355 | issue = 21 | pages = 2247–2248| date = November 2006 | doi =10.1056/NEJMe068176 |pmid = 17124023 | pmc= }}</ref>

==Criticism==
The ''deus ex machina'' device is often criticized as inartistic, too convenient, and overly simplistic. However, champions of the device say that it opens up ideological and artistic possibilities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vaatmann |first=Veiko |date=2022-07-01 |title=In defence of deus ex machina |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/josc/2022/00000013/00000002/art00002;jsessionid=4piirddiqfbob.x-ic-live-02 |journal=Journal of Screenwriting |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=155–167 |doi=10.1386/josc_00091_1|s2cid=252424778 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="ghosts">{{cite journal |last1=Breton |first1=Rob |title=Ghosts in the Machina: Plotting in Chartist and Working-Class Fiction |journal=Victorian Studies |date=Summer 2005 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=557–575 |doi=10.1353/vic.2006.0003}}</ref>

===Ancient criticism===
[[Antiphanes (comic poet)|Antiphanes]] was one of the device's earliest critics. He believed that the use of the ''deus ex machina'' was a sign that the playwright was unable to properly manage the complications of his plot.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |last1=Handley |first1=Miriam |title=Shaw's response to the deus ex machina: From the Quintessence of Ibsenism to ''Heartbreak House'' |journal=Theatre: Ancient & Modern, January 1999 Conference | date=January 1999 |isbn=9780749285777 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfUCAgAACAAJ}}</ref>
{{blockquote|when they don't know what to say

and have completely given up on the play

just like a finger they lift the machine

and the spectators are satisfied. | Antiphanes}}

Another critical reference to the device can be found in [[Plato]]'s dialogue ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', 425d, though it is made in the context of an argument unrelated to drama.

[[Aristotle]] criticized the device in his ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'', where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play:<ref>Janko (1987, 20)</ref>
{{blockquote|In the characters, too, exactly as in the structure of the incidents, [the poet] ought always to seek what is either necessary or probable, so that it is either necessary or probable that a person of such-and-such a sort say or do things of the same sort, and it is either necessary or probable that this [incident] happen after that one. It is obvious that the solutions of plots, too, should come about as a result of the plot itself, and not from a contrivance, as in the ''Medea'' and in the passage about sailing home in the ''[[Iliad]]''. A contrivance must be used for matters outside the drama — either previous events, which are beyond human knowledge, or later ones that need to be foretold or announced. For we grant that the gods can see everything. There should be nothing improbable in the incidents; otherwise, it should be outside the tragedy, e.g., that in [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Oedipus Rex|Oedipus]]''. |''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' |(1454a33–1454b9) }}

Aristotle praised Euripides, however, for generally ending his plays with bad fortune, which he viewed as correct in tragedy, and somewhat excused the intervention of a deity by suggesting that "astonishment" should be sought in tragic drama:<ref>''Poetics'' 11.5, Penguin (1996, 45).</ref>
{{blockquote|Irrationalities should be referred to what people say: That is one solution, and also sometimes that it is not irrational, since it is probable that improbable things will happen.}}

Such a device was referred to by [[Horace]] in his ''[[Ars Poetica (Horace)|Ars Poetica]]'' (lines 191–2), where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [''nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret''].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237830?page=3 |title=Ars Poetica by Horace |date=21 September 2017 |website=Poetry Foundation}}</ref>

===Modern criticism===
Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view the ''deus ex machina'' as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists.

Toward the end of the 19th century, [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic [[genre]] by use of the device, and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness," prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life."<ref>Nietzsche (2003, 85).</ref> The ''deus ex machina'' as Nietzsche saw it was symptomatic of [[Socrates|Socratic]] culture, which valued knowledge over [[Apollonian and Dionysian|Dionysiac]] music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy:<ref>Nietzsche (2003, 84–86).</ref>
{{blockquote| But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the ''endings'' of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]''. Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the ''deus ex machina''.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}
Nietzsche argued that the ''deus ex machina'' creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena.<ref>Nietzsche (2003, 80).</ref> His denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion.
 
In ''Euripides the Rationalist'' (1895), [[Arthur Woollgar Verrall]] surveyed and recorded other late 19th-century responses to the device. He recorded that some of the critical responses to the term referred to it as 'burlesque', 'coup de théâtre', and 'catastrophe'. Verrall notes that critics have a dismissive response to authors who deploy the device in their writings. He comes to the conclusion that critics feel that the ''deus ex machina'' is evidence of the author's attempt to ruin the whole of his work and to prevent anyone from putting any importance on his work.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

However, other scholars have looked at Euripides' use of ''deus ex machina'' and described its use as an integral part of the plot, designed for a specific purpose. Often, Euripides' plays would begin with gods, so it is argued that it would be natural for the gods to finish the action. The conflict throughout Euripides' plays would be caused by the meddling of the gods, so it would make sense both to the playwright and to the audience of the time that the gods would resolve all conflict that they began.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abel |first1=D. Herbert |title=Euripides' Deus ex Machina: Fault or Excellence |journal=The Classical Journal |date=December 1954 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=127–130 }}</ref> Half of Euripides' eighteen extant plays end with the use of ''deus ex machina'', therefore it was not simply a device to relieve the playwright of the embarrassment of a confusing plot-ending. This device enabled him to bring about a natural and more dignified dramatic and tragic ending.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Flickinger |first1=Roy Caston |title=The Greek Theatre and its Drama |date=1926 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois}}</ref>

Other champions of the device believe that it can be a spectacular agent of subversion. It can be used to undercut generic conventions and challenge cultural assumptions and the privileged role of tragedy as a literary/theatrical model.<ref name=ghosts />

Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that ''deus ex machina'' cannot be viewed in these simplified terms, and contends that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.<ref name="Rehm 1992, 71">Rehm (1992, 71).</ref> [[Rush Rehm]] in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the ''deus ex machina'' complicates the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by the deity, while simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience.<ref name="Rehm 1992, 71" /> Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the ''deus ex machina'' plot device is employed deliberately. An example is shown through the comic effect generated in ''[[Monty Python's Life of Brian]],'' when Brian, who lives in [[Judea]] at the time of [[Christ (title)|Christ]], is saved from a high fall by a passing [[ancient astronauts|alien spaceship]].<ref>James Berardinelli, James. [http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/l/life_brian.html "Review: Life of Brian"]. Reelviews Movie Reviews. 2003</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Eucatastrophe]]
* [[Peripeteia]]
* [[Plot armor]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* Bushnell, Rebecca ed. 2005. ''A Companion to Tragedy''. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4051-0735-9}}.
* Heath, Malcolm, trans. 1996. ''Poetics.'' By [[Aristotle]]. Penguin: London. {{ISBN|978-0-14-044636-4}}.
* Janko, Richard, trans. 1987. ''Poetics with Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II and the Fragments of the On Poets.'' By [[Aristotle]]. Cambridge: Hackett. {{ISBN|0-87220-033-7}}.
* Mastronarde, Donald, 1990. ''Actors on High: The Skene roof, the Crane and the Gods in Attic Drama''. Classical Antiquity, Vol 9, October 1990, pp 247–294. University of California.
* Rehm, Rush, 1992. ''Greek Tragic Theatre''. Routledge, London. {{ISBN|0-415-04831-1}}.
* Tanner, Michael ed. 2003. ''The Birth of Tragedy''. By [[Nietzsche, Friedrich]]. Penguin: London. {{ISBN|978-0-14-043339-5}}.
* Taplin, Oliver, 1978. ''Greek Tragedy in Action''. Methuen, London. {{ISBN|0-416-71700-4}}.
* Walton, J Michael, trans. 2000. ''Euripides: Medea''. Methuen, London. {{ISBN|0-413-75280-1}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{wiktionary-inline}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Deus ex Machina|year=1905 |short=x}}

{{Narrative modes}}

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