Questions of Mediation of the Deus ex Machina in Elizabethan Drama

Whereas the OED dates the earliest occurrence of the phrase deus ex machina in the English language to 1697, the concept was quite familiar to the Elizabethans. This essay wishes to investigate how the deus ex machina device of Greek and Roman drama was received and mediated in the Elizabethan theatres. It will be seen that neither issues of technology required for the descent of a god on stage nor questions of genre can fully explain the paucity of examples. It will be argued that, since the Reformed context associated the deus ex machina with Catholicism, and the device maintained connections with medieval miracle plays, seeing pagan gods perform the deus ex machina function could contribute to articulating critical reflections on the Christian God’s providential interventionism in human life.