by Bridget Richard

Deus ex machina. And no matter how many times my Microsoft word processor tries to tell me otherwise, those are real words. Meaning “god from the machine” in Latin, it is one of the most under-appreciated literary devices that I have encountered. According to tvtropes.org, it is defined as “… When some new event, character, ability, or object solves a seemingly unsolvable problem in a sudden, unexpected way.”

And as defined by an enthusiast, it is a surprising and serendipitous resolution to an almost impossible conflict.

It is like a literary kinder egg surprise but, unlike the candy, this one is legal. Thinking about it this way makes even more saddening when I hear the device shamed and looked down upon by literary connoisseurs. They see it as an author’s cheap cop-out, a lack of imagination, or just plain laziness. But I beg to differ. The Deus ex machina is not just a random add-in to any story, it is the resolution to a conflict, the reason that there can be a happy ending.

Do we have a lovable gang of characters learning how to survive and tolerate each other while trying to escape a deserted island? No need to worry about the past 100 pages of trial and error! A giant condor will conveniently carry everyone to safety.

Is a blind protagonist learning how to live, and love, in a modern romanticized city? Well right when her boyfriend is about to dump her, she will inexplicably gain sight and land a new job as a fashion model. The end.

And when you think about it, it is not as absurd as it seems at first glance. Everyone has had an experience where their problems are solved by an unrelated miracle. Bad weather got you out of a family picnic you didn’t want to go to. A surprisingly friendly stranger breaks the awkward tension between you and a friend. Bizarre resolutions out of left field are the most natural and expected thing I can imagine.

So maybe using a Deus ex machina is not as much exploiting the random nature as much as it is tapping into the true absurdity of life itself.

And if that isn’t justification enough, Shakespeare totally did it in “As You Like It.” And if the Bard did it, it can’t be all that bad of a plot device.