Dramaturgical and Aesthetical Development of Deux ex Machine in Selected Works by Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine

The present study focuses on a theatrical principle known as a Latin calque Deus ex machina meaning "God from the Machine". Although this plot device used to resolve a seemingly unsolvable problem is already mentioned in the Aristotle's Poetics, its application and understanding keeps developing. Moreover, the status of Deus ex machina among other theatrical constraints changes as well. The aim of this M.A thesis is to describe the evolution of this particular theatrical device in terms of aesthetics and dramaturgy of the 17th Century French Tragedy. The first part of the study is dedicated to a theoretical analysis of Deus ex machina. Therefore, we introduce the opinions of three French classicist theorists, namely Jean Chapelain, abbé d'Aubignac and Hippolyte-Jules Pilet de La Mesnardière. In each of these theoretical works the theatrical device is analysed in the context of individual dramaturgical doctrines as well as in a close correlation with other theatrical rules. In the second part of the work we study the practical integration of Deus ex machina in six selected tragedies dealing with the legends on Iphigenia and Medea. In the entire work Deus ex machina is described mainly in the context of other "irrational" elements of the plot as they represent an inevitable part of a tragic action. Powered by..