Deus Ex Machina
- “what is deus ex machina”
- “god from the machine meaning”
- “is deus ex machina bad writing”
- “deus ex machina examples”
01 · Side by side
Side by side
Comparison sheet
| Aspect | Deus ex machina | Chekhov's gun |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | None | Required |
| Arrives from | Outside the plot | Inside it |
| Reader feels | Cheated | Rewarded |
| Aristotle's view | Forbidden | — |
02 · Which one you meant
Which one did you mean?
In shortReaders who land here meaning Deus Ex Machina rather than Chekhov's gun are usually searching for phrases like “what is deus ex machina”, “god from the machine meaning”, “is deus ex machina bad writing”.
Chekhov's Gun
- “what is chekhovs gun”
- “if a gun appears in act one”
- “chekhovs gun vs foreshadowing”
- “did chekhov say rifle or pistol”
03 · Which came first
Which came first
In shortDeus ex machina. c. 335 BC — Aristotle, in the Poetics, insists the unravelling must come from the plot itself 'and not produced mechanically as in the Medea'.
- c. 335 BC
Deus Ex Machina. Aristotle, in the Poetics, insists the unravelling must come from the plot itself 'and not produced mechanically as in the Medea'.
- 1889
Chekhov's Gun. Chekhov writes to a fellow writer: 'One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.'
04 · Read either one