Roopa Banerjee

Have you read a book or watched a movie where a problem in the plot seems insurmountable and then suddenly a new character or plot twist helps everything fall into place? Did it feel contrived, or did you believe the author resorted to it to end the story in a convincing manner? Well, what you have read/seen is a legitimate literary device known as deus ex machina. It is used to resolve a seemingly insurmountable problem in a story plot by adding in an unexpected turn.

Deus ex machina has Latin origins and literally means ‘God in the machine’. Literature abounds with deus ex machina. The earliest use is in Greek drama which had a tradition of lowering or lifting characters who played Greek gods on stage. Thus, deus ex machina literally referred to machines which lifted gods as characters. Greek playwrights Aeschylus and Euripides extensively used this device in their dramas.

Aristotle created the Greek label for deus ex machina in his thesis on literary study theory, Poetics. Like several other literary scholars, Aristotle detested this device and observed that it made the plot implausible. His argument was that the deduction of a plot should appear spontaneously from occurrences that the author has previously created. Many agreed with him that deus ex machina was too contrived. However despite its usage being frowned upon, many authors continue to use it for comic purposes.

Examples abound in the James Bond series (and similar espionage series such as Mission Impossible) where Bond invariably uses an invented device that is exactly what he needs just in that moment to save his life. It’s a ‘hey presto!’ moment with the device working wonders to save him.

Similarly, in Monty Python’s comedy movie Life of Brian, viewers experience a feeling of being duped when he falls off a tower and is saved by a spaceship of aliens that just happens to be conveniently flying by. Likewise in Harry Potter, enormous eagles arrive to save Gandalf when he was trapped atop a tower with seemingly no chance of escape.

Another interesting example is in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark where enemies tie Indiana Jones to a pole and when they open the Ark of the Covenant, angels of death emerge miraculously and save Jones.

But the one that takes the cake is in Jurassic Park where the protagonist children are trapped by velociraptors and about to die, tyrannosaurus rex attacks and kills the velociraptors, but not the children. Thank goodness for deus ex machina, is all we can say.

In literature, William Shakespeare used deus ex machina in interesting ways. For instance in As You Like It, he used it unapologetically to provide comedy and humour. Most Shakespearean comedies end in several marriages which happen with the use of this device.

Some literary experts like deus ex machina while others hate it. But no one can ignore it!

Exercise
Here are five books that use deus ex machina. Who are their authors:

Books
1. The Odyssey
2. War and Peace
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
5. The Lord of the Rings

Authors
1. Homer
2. Leo Tolstoy
3. C S Lewis
4. Douglas Adams
5. JRR Tolkien

Also read: 10 commonly used literary terms