Deus ex Machina

Deus ex Machina, literary device introduced in Greek tragedy, whereby the plot of a play is suddenly and unexpectedly resolved by the intervention of a new character, or the revelation of a piece of information that alters the characters’ understanding of their situation. The meaning of the term, literally “god from a machine”, derives from the elaborate flying mechanisms (“machines”) that were used in ancient Greek theatre to transport a “god” on to the stage. Euripides was among the most frequent users of deus ex machina to resolve his dramas: in Hippolytus (428 bc), the intervention of Artemis triggers repentance and forgiveness among the plot’s mortals, and in the final scene of Alcestis (438 bc) a slave reveals information that brings the play to a satisfactory close. The convention has persisted to the present day in, for example, whodunnits where the plot is unravelled in the closing scene by the arrival of a surprise witness or suspect. Because of overuse, the device has acquired a slightly derogatory meaning, implying an arbitrary resolution to a plot when the writer has run out of inspiration.