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A deus ex machina (lat. IPA: [ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina], literally "god from the machine")^[1] is a god brought on the stage by a mechanical device^[2] or, by extension, 'an improbable contrivance in a story characterized by a sudden unexpected solution to a seemingly intractable problem'.^[1] Neoclassical literary criticism, from Corneille and John Dennis on, took it as a given that one mark of a bad play was the sudden invocation of extraordinary circumstance. Thus, the term "deus ex machina" has come to mean any inferior plot device that expeditiously solves the conflict of a narrative.

The mechanical device

The mechane (also known as the crane, mēchanē, mekhane) was a type of crane used in ancient Attic drama in order to suggest movement through the air.^[3] It is widely accepted that the mechane was available for use by the end of the 5th century BCE^[4], and that the most probable form of this early crane was of a pivoted counter-weighted beam, operated via a series of pulleys, reminiscent of the Mediterranean shadouf used for raising water.^[5] The significance of this device, as one of only two pieces of stage machinery used in the Greek theatre, is generally interpreted as a way of physicalising the divide between the mortal and the divine spheres, a seminal theme in Greek tragic drama, by enabling divine characters to appear above stage level.^[6] As gods occupied the upper air in Greek thought, the mechane is supposed to have been reserved for divine characters in the majority of cases.^[7] It is questionable whether the crane was used as early as the 5th century for divine epiphanies, however, or whether it was simply used to imitate the act of flying.^[8] Donald Mastronarde believes the mechane was positioned behind the skēnē building and could lift actors (usually one or two) and place them on the building's roof (Ancient Greek: theologeion).^[9] The actor(s) may have worn a basic harness or stood on a kind of simple trapeze in order to be hoisted into the air.^[10] Mastronarde suggests that the mechane demonstrates a "striving for realism in physical movement" in the Greek theatre and critics such as Oliver Taplin interpret this as evidence of an overall "broad realism" in the acting style of the period, as opposed to a highly symbolic theatre of formalised actions, such as one might find in the Noh theatre of Japan.^[11] Taplin discusses the importance in Greek tragedy of the exits and entrances of characters and this is consistent with the development of the crane as a stage device used purely for the sudden arrival and departure of characters.^[12] This manner of divine epiphany or entrance above of a mortal character is used to conjure up a strong sense of the future as well as the consequences of the scene recently witnessed by the audience.^[13] The first textual citing of the deus ex machina is in Euripides' Medea (432 BC) in which the protagonist "appears above" on a chariot sent by her grandfather Helios (the sun), although Mastronarde believes this presupposes an established convention and conjectures that the crane was not a recent invention at this date.^[14]

Ancient uses

The Greek tragedian Euripides is often censored for his frequent use of the deus ex machina. More than half of Euripides' extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution and some critics go so far as to claim the mechane was a Euripidean invention.^[15] For example, in Euripides' play Alcestis, the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life in order 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. A more frequently cited example is Euripides' Medea in which the deus ex machina is used to convey Medea, who has just committed murder and infanticide, away from her husband Jason to the safety and civilization of Athens. In Aristophanes' play Thesmophoriazusae the playwright 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.

Aristotle criticised the device in his Poetics, where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play:^[16]

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:

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.^[17]

Medieval uses

The earliest use of deus ex machina in a murder mystery occurs in the Arabian Nights tale of "The Three Apples", near the middle of the story. After discovering the dead body of a young woman, Harun al-Rashid orders his vizier, Ja'far ibn Yahya, to solve the crime and find the murdererer within three days or else he will have him executed instead. Ja'far, however, fails to find the murderer before the deadline.^[18][19] Just when Harun is about to have Ja'far executed for his failure, a deus ex machina occurs when the murderer all of a sudden reveals himself,^[20] claiming to be the woman's husband.^[21]

Modern criticism

Following on from Aristotle's example, Renaissance critics continued to view the deus ex Machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists; Shakespeare used the device in Pericles and in The Winter's Tale.^[22] Towards the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticised Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre via use of the device and was highly sceptical of the "Greek cheerfulness" this prompted and what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life."^[23] The deus ex machina as Nietzsche saw it was symptomatic of Socratic culture that valued knowledge over Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy:^[24]

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.^[25]

Nietzsche argues that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena and this denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion.^[26] Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that the deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms and argues rather that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.^[27] Rush Rehm in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the deus ex machina serves to complicate the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by the deity whilst simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience.^[28]

Modern uses

In fiction writing, the phrase has been extended to refer to a sudden and unexpected resolution to a seemingly intractable problem in a plot-line, or what might be called an "Oh, by the way..." ending.^[1] Some critics think that a deus ex machina is generally undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of skill on the part of the author because it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though more palatable, ending.^[29] A well-known modern example of deus ex machina occurs in the Michael Crichton book The Andromeda Strain: the pathogen referred to in the title is suddenly rendered non-lethal by a random mutation which apparently affects every existing virus particle instantaneously.

Sometimes the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. An example is in Bertolt Brecht's epic musical The Threepenny Opera (1928), in which a "riding messenger of the king" appears in the last moment, stops the execution of the story's criminal anti-hero Mack the Knife, and bestows an inheritable title of nobility on him.

See also

• Peripeteia
• Miracles
• Divine Intervention
• Agôn

References

Sources