天外救星
天外救星（拉丁语：Deus ex machina，/ˌdeɪəs ɛks ˈmækɪnə, - ˈmɑːk-/ DAY-əs ex-MA(H)K-in-ə,[1] 拉丁語：[ˈdɛ.ʊs ɛks ˈmaːkʰɪnaː]; plural: dei ex machina; English ‘god from the machine’），亦译作「舞台機關送神」、「机械降神」、「機器神」、「解圍之神」等，是意料外的、突然的、牽強的解圍角色、手段或事件，在虛構作品內，突然引入來為緊張情節或場面解圍。近似詞有天降神兵、有如神助等。
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词源编辑
拉丁語片語Deus ex machina（英譯：God from the machine）翻譯自希臘語ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός（apò mēkhanḗs theós），意思是機關跑出的神。
在古希腊戏剧，當劇情陷入膠著，困境難以解決時，突然出現擁有強大力量的神將難題解決，令故事得以收拾、有個好結局。扮演神的演員會利用起重機從舞台上方降下，或是起升機從舞台地板的活門抬上。這種表演手法是人為的，製造出意料之外的劇情大逆轉[2]。
現代批評编辑
這種手法通常被評論家認為是不高明的說書技巧，因為它破壞了故事的內在邏輯，縱使有時候會為了這個理由而故意採用。繼亞里士多德之後，文藝復興時期評論家將其視為一種迂拙的情節計策，雖然其仍然受用於文藝復興時期的劇作家；莎士比亞將此計策用在《一報還一報》《仲夏夜之梦》《皆大歡喜》《泰爾親王佩力克爾斯》和《冬天的故事》[3]。19世紀末，尼采批評歐里庇得斯透過這種計策將悲劇因素製造成樂觀的類型，並促使他高度懷疑戲劇《blissful delight in life》是「希臘快樂」（Greek cheerfulness）[4]。
尼采認為机械降神是蘇格拉底文化的症狀，重視文化知識過於酒神節的音樂並最終導致死亡的悲劇：[5]
But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus. Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the deus ex machina.[6]
尼采認為，机械降神製造出虛假的慰藉感覺，這是不應該尋求的現象，這種情節計策的詆毀普遍出現在評論意見中[7]。一些20世紀的修正主義者的評論，建議deus ex machina不能在簡化的用語中被查看，並主張此種計策是凡人「刺探」與神的關係[8]。拉什瑞姆（Rush Rehm）特別引用希臘悲劇的例子，其中deus ex machina提供複雜化角色的生活和態度，當面臨神的同時為觀眾帶來戲劇的尾聲[8]。
參見编辑
參考資料编辑
- Bushnell, Rebecca ed. 2005. A Companion to Tragedy. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0735-9.
- Heath, Malcolm, trans. 1996. Poetics. By Aristotle. Penguin: London. ISBN 978-0-14-044636-4.
- Janko, Richard, trans. 1987. Poetics with Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II and the Fragments of the On Poets. By Aristotle. Cambridge: Hackett. ISBN 0-87220-033-7.
- Mastronarde, Donald, 1990. Actors on High: The Skene roof, the Crane and the Gods in Attic Drama. Classical Antiquity, Vol 9, October 1990, pp 247–294. University of California.
- Rehm, Rush, 1992. Greek Tragic Theatre. Routledge, London. ISBN 0-415-04831-1.
- Tanner, Michael ed. 2003. The Birth of Tragedy. By Nietzsche, Friedrich. Penguin: London. ISBN 978-0-14-043339-5.
- Taplin, Oliver, 1978. Greek Tragedy in Action. Methuen, London. ISBN 0-416-71700-4.
- Walton, J Michael, trans. 2000. Euripides: Medea. Methuen, London. ISBN 0-413-75280-1.