The contrived, improbable ending of the play is known as what?

• A. Deus Ex Machina
• B. Epigram
• C. Satire
• D. Reversal Of Expectations

Answer: (A)

A plot device that wraps up tangled problems with an improbable, almost miraculous intervention is known as a deus ex machina. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the comic complications—fake identities, love plots, and social expectations—are suddenly resolved by surprising revelations about Jack’s true parentage and name, which neatens everything up and allows the marriages to proceed. That sense of an external, almost manufactured solution is exactly what the term captures: a contrived, offstage “solution” that comes in at the last moment to restore order. The other ideas describe different things—epigram is a witty line, satire targets social ideas through humor, and a simple reversal of expectations is a twist—not necessarily an external rescue that ends the crisis. So the ending fits deus ex machina best.