![]() 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.The 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, with Indiana conveniently and inexplicably knowing not to look at it.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. It is generally deemed undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. Plot device Īristotle 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. 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. 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. 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. Shakespeare uses the device in As You Like It, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and Cymbeline. Modern theatrical examples Ĭharacters ascend into heaven to become gods at the end of the 1650 play Andromède. 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. The device produced an immediate emotional response from Greek audiences. At the end, Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and to Admetus.Īristophanes' 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. In Alcestis, the heroine agrees to give up her own life to spare the life of her husband Admetus. 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. 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. Ancient examples Īeschylus used the device in his Eumenides, but it became an established stage machine with Euripides. ![]() The device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, although it also appeared in comedies. ![]() Aeschylus introduced the idea, and it was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. The machine could be either a crane ( mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought them up through a trapdoor. The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought onto stage using a machine. Origin of the expression ĭeus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós) 'god from the machine'. 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. Deus ex machina in Euripides' Medea, performed in 2009 in Syracuse, Italy the sun god sends a golden chariot to rescue Medea.ĭeus ex machina ( / ˌ d eɪ ə s ɛ k s ˈ m æ k ɪ n ə, ˈ m ɑː k-/ DAY-əs ex- MA(H)K-in-ə, Latin: plural: dei ex machina English "god from the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. ![]()
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