Deus ex machina

Deus ex machina (/ˌdeɪəs ɛks ˈmækɪnə,

ˈmɑːk-/ DAY-əs ex-MA(H)K-in-ə,[1]
Latin: [ˈdɛ.ʊs ɛks ˈmaːkʰɪnaː]; plural: dei ex
machina; English "god out of the
machine")[2][3] is a plot device whereby a
seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is
suddenly and/or abruptly resolved by an
unexpected and unlikely occurrence.[4][5]
Its function is generally to resolve an
otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to
surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a
happy ending, and/or act as a comedic
device.[6]

Deus ex machina in Euripides' Medea, performed in 2009 in Syracuse, Italy; the sun god sends a golden chariot to rescue
Medea

Origin of the expression

Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from
Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês
theós) 'god from the machine'.[7] The term
was coined from the conventions of
ancient Greek theater, where actors who
were playing gods were brought onto
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.[8]

Ancient examples
Aeschylus used the device in his
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.[9] A frequently cited
example is Euripides' 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, the heroine agrees to give up her
own life to spare the life of her husband
Admetus. At the end, Heracles shows up
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 from 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.[10]
Modern theatrical examples

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.[11] 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.
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.[12]

Plot device
Aristotle 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.[8] It
is generally deemed 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.[13]

Examples

Ark of the Covenant, which serves

largely as the MacGuffin in Steven
Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981), serves as a deus ex machina at
the ending of the film: When it seems
that the protagonist, Indiana Jones, has
been beaten by the Nazis, the wrath of
God rises from the Ark and kills the
antagonists.[14]
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 the previous
movie.[15] Also, the sudden arrival of
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".[16]
The Great Eagles. J. R. R. Tolkien The
eagles have been critiqued as a deus ex
machina.[17][18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
The War of the Worlds. The Martians in
H. G. Wells's have destroyed everything
in their path and apparently triumphed
over humanity, but they are suddenly
killed by bacteria.[21]

In medicine
In medicine, the phrase is often used for
supposedly "magical remedies" which are
not likely to work in practice. For instance,
in the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, when
double lung transplantation for terminal
COVID-19 patients was suggested, it was
immediately denounced as a deus ex
machina.[22] 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.[23]

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.[24][25]

Ancient criticism
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.[26]

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, 425d,
though it is made in the context of an
argument unrelated to drama.

Aristotle criticized the device in his

Poetics, where he argued that the
resolution of a plot must arise internally,
following from previous action of the
play:[27]

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.

— 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:[28]

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 (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].[29]

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".[30] The deus ex machina as Nietzsche
saw it was symptomatic of Socratic
culture, which valued knowledge over
Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the
death of tragedy:[31]
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.[32]
His denigration of the plot device has
prevailed in critical opinion.

In Arthur Woollgar Verrall's publication

Euripides the Rationalist (1895), he
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 prevent anyone from putting any
importance on his work.[26]

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 would make sense to both the
playwright and the audience of the time
that the gods would resolve all conflict
that they began.[33] 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.[34]
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.[25]

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.[35] 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.[35]
Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the deus ex
machina plot device is employed
deliberately. For example, comic effect is
created in a scene in Monty Python's Life of
Brian when Brian, who lives in Judea at the
time of Christ, is saved from a high fall by
a passing alien space ship.[36]

See also
Alien space bats – Implausible plot
device in fiction
Chekhov's gun – Dramatic principle that
every element in a story must be
 necessary
Deathtrap (plot device) – plot device
God of the gaps – Theological argument
MacGuffin – Story plot device
Magical Negro – Supporting stock
character who comes to the aid of white
protagonists in a film
Miracle – Event not explicable by natural
or scientific laws
Peripeteia – Reversal of circumstances,
turning point

Notes
1. Random House Dictionary
2. Beckson, Karl E.; Ganz, Arthur F. (1961). A
Reader's Guide to Literary Terms: A
Dictionary ([Link]
s?id=-2NkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Deus+Ex+Ma
china%22+%22god+out+of+the+machine%
22) . Noonday Press.
3. "Deus Ex Machina - Examples and
Definition" ([Link]
ex-machina/) . Literary Devices. 2013-11-
03. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
4. "deus ex machina" ([Link]
[Link]/dictionary/deus%20ex%20mac
hina) . Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 23 Apr
2018.
5. "Deus ex machina" ([Link]
com/art/deus-ex-machina) . Encyclopaedia
Britannica. Retrieved 23 Apr 2018.
 . "God Out of the Machine – Theatrical
Literary Devices - Oxford Study Courses" (ht
tps://[Link]/blog/god-ou
t-of-the-machine-theatrical-literary-device
s) . [Link]. 14
September 2015. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
7. 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 Francis Greenleaf Allinson.
 . Chondros, Thomas G.; Milidonis, Kypros;
Vitzilaios, George; Vaitsis, John (September
2013). " "Deus-Ex-Machina" reconstruction
in the Athens theater of Dionysus".
Mechanism and Machine Theory. 67: 172–
191.
doi:10.1016/[Link].2013.04.01
0 ([Link]
heory.2013.04.010) .
9. Rehm (1992, 72) and Walton (1984, 51).
10. Cunningham, Maurice P. (July 1954).
"Medea ΑΠΟ ΜΗΧΑΝΗΣ". Classical
Philology. 49 (3): 151–160.
doi:10.1086/363788 ([Link]
86%2F363788) . JSTOR 265931 ([Link]
[Link]/stable/265931) .
S2CID 163893448 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:163893448) .
11. Rehm (1992, 70).
12. "Tartuffe: Novel Guide" ([Link]
[Link]/a/discover/dfs_18/dfs_18_0002
[Link]) Archived ([Link]
web/20120121065505/[Link]
[Link]/a/discover/dfs_18/dfs_18_00023.
html) 2012-01-21 at the Wayback Machine.
2003. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
13. Dr. L. Kip Wheeler. "Literary Terms and
Definitions: D" ([Link]
lit_terms_D.html) . Retrieved 2008-07-26.
14. Fischer, Dennis (2011-12-14). Science
Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998.
Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-
7864-8505-5.
15. Even The Avengers: Endgame Writers
Admit Time Travel Is Ludicrous ([Link]
[Link]/news/2477366/even-t
he-avengers-endgame-writers-admit-time-tr
avel-is-ludicrous)
1 . How did 'Avengers: Endgame' get Captain
Marvel so wrong? ([Link]
om/story/life/movies/2019/04/27/avenger
s-endgame-gets-captain-marvel-so-wrong-s
poilers/3572243002/)
17. "Top 10 Deus Ex Machina moments" (http
s://[Link]/web/2020050218054
5/[Link]
deus-ex-machina-moments/) . Archived
from the original ([Link]
lm-blog/top-10-deus-ex-machina-moment
s/) on 2020-05-02.
1 . Vaninskaya, Anna (26 December 2019).
Fantasies of Time and Death: Dunsany,
Eddison, Tolkien ([Link]
m/books?id=tRvHDwAAQBAJ&dq=deus+ex
+machina+eagles+Tolkien+OR+%22lord+of
+the+rings%22&pg=PA184) .
ISBN 9781137518385.
19. Friedman, Lawrence S. (2008). "Grief, grief,
grief: Lord of the Flies" ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=j1ZJcFqQ7V8C&q=Lord+o
f+the+Flies,+deus+ex+machina&pg=PA67)
. In Bloom, Harold (ed.). William Golding's
Lord of the Flies. Infobase Publishing.
pp. 67–68. ISBN 9780791098264.
20. Abrams, MH, ed. (1993). A Glossary of
Literary Terms. Harcourt Brace & Company,
USA. pp. 44–45.
21. Westfahl, Gary, ed. (2005). The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and
Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders,
Volume 1. Greenwood Publishing Group.
p. 195 ([Link]
=SQMQQyIaACYC&pg=PA195) .
ISBN 0313329516.
22. Wadowski BJ, Bacchetta M, Kon ZN
(December 2020). "Beware the Deus Ex
Machina of COVID-19" ([Link]
[Link]/pmc/articles/PMC7455797) .
Ann Thorac Surg. 110 (6): 1787–1788.
doi:10.1016/[Link].2020.08.001 (http
s://[Link]/10.1016%[Link].2020.0
8.001) . PMC 7455797 ([Link]
[Link]/pmc/articles/PMC7455797) .
PMID 32871108 ([Link]
[Link]/32871108) .
23. Greene MF (November 2006).
"Obstetricians still await a deus ex
machina". N Engl J Med. 355 (21): 2247–
2248. doi:10.1056/NEJMe068176 ([Link]
[Link]/10.1056%2FNEJMe068176) .
PMID 17124023 ([Link]
[Link]/17124023) .
24. Vaatmann, Veiko (2022-07-01). "In defence
of deus ex machina" ([Link]
[Link]/content/intellect/josc/2022/0
0000013/00000002/art00002;jsessionid=4
piirddiqfbob.x-ic-live-02) . Journal of
Screenwriting. 13 (2): 155–167.
doi:10.1386/josc_00091_1 ([Link]
10.1386%2Fjosc_00091_1) .
S2CID 252424778 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:252424778) .
25. Breton, Rob (Summer 2005). "Ghosts in the
Machina: Plotting in Chartist and Working-
Class Fiction". Victorian Studies. 47 (4):
557–575. doi:10.1353/vic.2006.0003 (http
s://[Link]/10.1353%2Fvic.2006.0003) .
2 . Handley, Miriam (January 1999). "Shaw's
response to the deus ex machina: From the
Quintessence of Ibsenism to Heartbreak
House" ([Link]
d=rfUCAgAACAAJ) . Theatre: Ancient &
Modern, January 1999 Conference.
ISBN 9780749285777.
27. Janko (1987, 20)
2 . Poetics 11.5, Penguin (1996, 45).
29. "Ars Poetica by Horace" ([Link]
[Link]/learning/essay/237830?pa
ge=3) . Poetry Foundation. 21 September
2017.
30. Nietzsche (2003, 85).
31. Nietzsche (2003, 84–86).
32. Nietzsche (2003, 80).
33. Abel, D. Herbert (December 1954).
"Euripides' Deus ex Machina: Fault or
Excellence". The Classical Journal. 50 (3):
127–130.
34. Flickinger, Roy Caston (1926). The Greek
Theatre and its Drama. Chicago, Illinois:
The University of Chicago Press.
35. Rehm (1992, 71).
3 . James Berardinelli, James. "Review: Life of
Brian" ([Link]
l/life_brian.html) . Reelviews Movie
Reviews. 2003

References
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.

External links
 The dictionary definition of deus ex
machina at Wiktionary
"Deus ex Machina"  ([Link]
[Link]/wiki/The_New_International_Ency
clop%C3%A6dia/Deus_ex_Machina) .
New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

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