What Constitutes Deus ex Machina?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20. 2009 and is filed under Posts by Rebecca Luella Miller,Myths and Fairy Tales,CSFF Blog Tour.
What constitutes deus ex machina? My computer dictionary defines the term as "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, esp. as a contrived plot device in a play or novel." This question is especially pertinent because I've been looking at God in fiction over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction (see posts here, here, here, and here). Then during the current CSFF Blog Tour for Stephen R. Lawhead's final installment of the King Raven Trilogy, Tuck, one reviewer suggested that deus ex machina raised its ugly head to spoil the end of the epic myth.
Really?
SPOILER ALERT
In Tuck, Rhi Bran y Hud (a Welsh Robin Hood), realizing that he is out-manned, rides north to plead with his mother's relatives to help him in his quest against the Normans. After Bran performs admirably in service of his relative king, he leaves the north without the support he sought. However, in the end, as Bran is preparing for the ultimate confrontation with King William the Red, his relatives, and Mérian's as well, ride to the rescue.
Deus ex machina?
Granted, this ending is not God showing up to save the day, though much is said about prayer, but that an unexpected force showed up to rescue a seemingly hopeless situation certainly smacks of authorial contrivance, doesn't it?
Well, no, it doesn't, I would argue. The operative word, in my opinion, is "unexpected." If an author lays proper groundwork so that a reader can entertain the suggestion that just maybe help will come from this outside source, then I don't believe the forbidden deus ex machina has been employed.
This is an important point I think, especially for Christian writers. Unless we make room for God to act in our stories, then we essentially bow to the conventional wisdom of society that all we need to overcome can be found within us. As Christians, we know that to be false. Why, then, would we write stories that show us overcoming apart from God?
And if our characters involve God, in fact if they rely upon Him and take Him into consideration throughout the story, even to the point of delaying combat to pursue peace since that is the way of God, then readers should rightfully expect Him to show up in the end. Consequently, His intervention (or forces sent by Him in answer to prayer) doesn't qualify as deus ex machina.
The key component, if writers are to successfully incorporate God in fiction, is the work the author must put in to make the end action expected—without being predictable. Mr. Lawhead did that in Tuck.
If Rhi Bran had never ridden north, never saved his relatives' king, never put himself in their indebtedness, then to have them show up in the end would have been a perfect example of deus ex machina. But Mr. Lawhead is much too skilled to create a story with that kind of end. Instead, he led readers to believe that Bran's efforts to bring help from the north had failed. Then and only then did that help arrive. As a surprise, not as a contrived authorial stunt.
Take some time to see what other bloggers on the CSFF tour have to say about Tuck:
√ Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer not on the original list √ √ Keanan Brand √ √ Rachel Briard √ Grace Bridges √ Valerie Comer √ Karri Compton not on the original list √ Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour √ Stacey Dale √ D. G. D. Davidson √ Jeff Draper √ April Erwin √ Karina Fabian Alex Field √ Beth Goddard √ Andrea Graham not on the original list √ Todd Michael Greene √ √ Ryan Heart √ √ √ Timothy Hicks √ √ Christopher Hopper √ Joleen Howell Becky Jesse √ Cris Jesse √ √ Jason Joyner Kait Carol Keen √ Krystine Kercher √ Dawn King √ Terri Main √ √ √ Margaret √ Melissa Meeks √ √ √ Rebecca LuElla Miller Caleb Newell Eve Nielsen √ Nissa √ √ √ John W. Otte √ John Ottinger √ Epic Rat √ √ √ Steve Rice Crista Richey √ Hanna Sandvig √ √ Chawna Schroeder √ James Somers √ √ Rachel Starr Thomson √ √ Robert Treskillard √ √ √ Steve Trower √ √ √ Fred Warren √ √ Phyllis Wheeler √ Jill Williamson
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Wednesday, May 20. 2009
susanne lakin (CS Lakin) wrote:
Those are great comments, Rebecca. I really like the point that as Christians, and in writing allegory about God's power in our characters' lives, then we DO believe in Deus ex machina, or "God in the Machine." We do believe God has the will and power to do amazing things, and if that is part of the theme in our stories, then we need to craft a way of setting them up for our nonbelieving readers. In one of my novels, The Map Across Time, Adin doubts God will hear him or help him, since he is insignificant. God steps in and does amazing things, and Adin is corrected by those wise among him. He is told that nothing can stop heaven, especially not our weaknesses and failings. He learns from his experience and sees God in action. Thanks for covering this topic!
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Friday, May 29. 2009
ken Rolph wrote:
"God in the Machine."
It's Deus EX machina, God FROM the machine. It's a term from ancient Greek theatre. If a playwright got in a hopeless muddle and could not end his play properly, he just got the stage machinery to drop in a god to solve the problem magically. It's a term that means lack of art, illogical, unbelievable.
Tollkien used the term "eucatastrophe" about God's intervention in human history. This is unexpected, but not illogical or unrelated to what has gone before. That's a better way of having God intervene in events. A deus ex machina is just a stage prop and nobody believes in it.
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Friday, May 29. 2009
Dave K wrote:
While I agree with the above articles and posts, this isn't Deus ex machina for another reason: something very like this happened involving William II and welsh rebels (it was part of Lawhead's research and is noted in his interview at the end). Now, while we as Christians certainly believe that God can and does intervene unexpectedly, the premise of "Deus ex machina" is that it's an authorial contrivance. Thanks to Lawhead's scholarship, the invention is not his (necessarily), but was actually a real life example of Tolkien's "eucatastrophe," and therefore not the authorial contrivance of a deus ex machina and a very surprising and satisfying end that added further truth to his historical fiction.
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Thursday, June 04. 2009
Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
Ken and Dave, thanks for these comments. You've added strength to my main point. God can and should "show up" in Christian fiction, but not out of the blue. As part of the story, with proper groundwork laid.
During the CSFF Blog Tour for Sharon Hinck's The Restorer this same issue came up, but like Lawhead, she had established God's place in her fantasy world, and it was not in anyway an artless intervention.
I think some writers are so afraid of these kinds of accusations they avoid bringing God into their fiction altogether.
Becky
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