God in the Machine: a short story

Such a device was referred to by Horace in his Ars Poetica lines —2 , where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [ nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret ]. Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view the deus ex machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists.

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Towards the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre via use of the device, and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness", prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life". But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus.

Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour.

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The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the deus ex machina. Nietzsche argued that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena. In Arthur Woollgar Verrall 's publication Euripides the Rationalist , he surveyed and recorded other late 19th century responses to the device.

Verrall notes that critics have a dismissive response to authors who deploy the device in their writings. He comes to the conclusion that critics feel that the deus ex machina is evidence of the author's attempt to ruin the whole of his work and prevent anyone from putting any importance on his work.

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However, other scholars have looked at Euripides' use of deus ex machina and described its use as an integral part of the plot designed for a specific purpose. Often Euripides' plays would begin with gods, so it is argued that it would be natural for the gods to finish the action. The conflict throughout Euripides' plays would be caused by the meddling of the gods and therefore would make sense to both the playwright and the audience of the time that the gods would resolve all conflict that they began.

This device enabled him to bring about a natural and more dignified dramatic and tragic ending. Other champions of the device believe that it can be a spectacular agent of subversion. Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms, and contends that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.

For example, comic effect is created in a scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian when Brian, who lives in Judea at the time of Christ , is saved from a high fall by a passing alien space ship. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Deus ex machina disambiguation. Retrieved 23 Apr Mechanism and Machine Theory. Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama: Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama. New York, New York: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 1.

Lord of the Flies ". After their successful departure on ponies, they pause on the mountain path on their way back to the airfield, where a plane is waiting to take them back to civilization. Under a clear night sky they estimate that it must be just about the time that the monks are pasting the final printed names into their holy books.

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Then they notice that "overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out. Wolfe noted that the story is "patently at odds with Clarke's scientific rationalism". Nahin has pointed out that, due to the delay imposed by the speed of light , an omniscient God would have had to destroy all the stars in the universe years earlier so that their "synchronized vanishing" would be visible at exactly the time that the monks completed their task. In , Clarke reported having been told that the Dalai Lama had found the story "very amusing".

Satyajit Ray , the Bengali movie pioneer translated the story into the Bengali language. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the short story. The New York Times. Clarke , by Gary K. You are commenting using your Twitter account.

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