Latin translation - "god out of a machine". The phrase describes an artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (such as an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems, or the entire story having been just a dream one of the characters was having.What is Deus ex machina and what does it mean?
In Greek and Roman drama, a god lowered by stage machinery to resolve a plot or extricate the protagonist from a difficult situation.
An unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.
A person or event that provides a sudden and unexpected solution to a difficulty.
[New Latin deus ex māchinā : Latin deus, god + Latin ex, from + Latin māchinā, ablative of māchina, machine (translation of Greek theos apo mēkhanēs).]
Literary Dictionary: deus ex machina
deus ex machina [day‐uus eks mak‐ in?], the ‘god from a machine’ who was lowered on to the stage by mechanical contrivance in some ancient Greek plays (notably those of Euripides) to solve the problems of the plot at a stroke. A later example is Shakespeare's introduction of Hymen into the last scene of As You Like It to marry off the main characters. The term is now used pejoratively for any improbable or unexpected contrivance by which an author resolves the complications of the plot in a play or novel, and which has not been convincingly prepared for in the preceding action: the discovery of a lost will was a favourite resort of Victorian novelists. See also coup de théatre, dénouement, machinery.
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: deus ex machina
Stage device in Greek and Roman drama in which a god appeared in the sky by means of a crane (Greek, mechane) to resolve the plot of a play. Plays by Sophocles and particularly Euripides sometimes require the device. The term now denotes something that appears suddenly and unexpectedly and provides an artificial solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty.
Philosophy Dictionary: deus ex machina
(Latin, god from the machine) The phrase refers to the theatrical device whereby a supernatural agency is introduced to solve the dramatic situation; hence, any artificial, introduced, external, and ad hoc solution to a problem.
Latin Phrase: Deus Ex Machina
Literally God from a machine. Describes a miraculous or fortuitous turn of events in a work of fiction.
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