Thesis Format
Monograph
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
English
Supervisor
Pero, Allan
Abstract
While the deus ex machina—the “God in the machine”—began as a formal and explicit procedure in Classical drama and has, in this capacity, become more invisible in subsequent literature, it lives on as a deeply embedded structure in many literary and philosophical texts. This dissertation examines the deus ex machina in two modes: a flagrant, scandalous literary device and a hidden structure in argumentation, philosophy, and theory. In Chapter One, I look at the history of the deus ex machina. I offer several examples of its appearances in books, movies, plays, and video games, among other media. Then, I examine criticism and defenses of the device. Existing scholarship tends to justify the deus ex machina by its ability to conclude a narrative either mechanically or thematically. I suggest that it may be justified by its very insufficiency. In Chapter Two, I examine the device’s status as a representation of the unrepresentable. I suggest that the deus ex machina may function as an acknowledgement or a symptom of Jacques Lacan’s Real dimension. In Chapter Three, I explore the (im)possibility of the deus ex machina through the philosophy of Kant, Sartre, and Hegel. I conclude it’s not simply that the impossible happens—that we must allow for the possibility of impossibilities—but that the impossible is where necessity fails. The deus ex machina may allow us to confront this idea. In the final chapter, I look at the literary stakes of the device in comedies and tragedies. A “good” deus ex machina establishes a universe in which the ways that the audience expects reality and teleology to function don’t hold. Otherwise, the device immanently fails because the audience will immanently recognize the impossibility of the human author breaking with causality-as-such.
Summary for Lay Audience
When a sudden event, person, or thing solves the problems of a story and ends the tale, that’s called a deus ex machina, or “God in the machine.” Think of the adult soldier arriving on the island to stop the warring children in Lord of the Flies or the T-rex consuming the velociraptors chasing the kids in Jurassic Park. Many critics think the device is a cheap solution. This dissertation argues that the deus ex machina may be a legitimate way to end a story. First, I explore the history of the deus ex machina. The device originated in Ancient Greece. It was, quite literally, a machine on which an actor playing a God was hoisted onto the stage to wrap up the action. Over time, this overt use of the device has become rarer. However, it is an embedded structure in many literary and philosophical texts, including works by G.W.F. Hegel, Immanuel Kant, and Jacques Lacan. To that end, I explore the invisible working of the deus ex machina in argumentation, philosophy, and theory. I argue that the shift comes from a change in what we consider “legitimate” knowledge. We often think that real knowledge must be measurable or observable. But the human mind cannot know everything. It cannot account for all possibilities all of the time. Some exist beyond our ability to know them: dei ex machina. I also explore the deus ex machina in its capacity as an in-your-face literary device. What makes a “good” deus ex machina and a “bad” deus ex machina? I argue that the former locate their dei within the imagined universe of the story, and the latter breaks the logic of the imagined universe. The first variety fails because the author rests on a capacity to capture an unknowable not capturable by their human reason.
Recommended Citation
Sallas, Alexander J., "The Logic of Possibility: On the Concept of Deus Ex Machina" (2024). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 10609.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/10609
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
