In great expectations is magwich a deus ex machina?

'deus ex machina' is a device to disentangle a plot that's been allowed to become too complicated, and thus secure a rapid and easy resolution. Rather like the cliffhanger in a serialised story which ends the current episode with the hero caught in a trap, tied up with rope hands and feet, his neck in a noose, and the ravenous lion roaring down upon him, and no possibility of rescue in sight. 'With one bound, Jack was free'.



Magwich can't really be called 'deus ex machina' in this sense. Rather, one should look at him in the context of one of those devices Dickens notoriously over-relies on (and may not have been too aware of himself), which is that of the role of coincidence in his plots. Just as in Oliver Twist, when Oliver, having robbed Mr Brownlow, is taken in to the care of the Maylies, and it turns out that Rose Maylie is Oliver's aunt. Magwich is part of the plot device, not a subsequent convenience to get the writer (or his main character) out of difficulty.In great expectations is magwich a deus ex machina?
In a word, No.

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