Animal Characters as Deux ex Machina in Maranao Folktales

Abstract

This study examined the portrayal of animals in Maranao Folktales. More specifically, it examined (1) how animals were depicted in Maranao Folktales; (2) their role or common purpose in the tales; and (3) how they were used as Deux ex Machina. To determine these, the paper employed the formalistic critical theory known as New Criticism and Textual Analysis. New Criticism accentuates the importance of close reading. That is, examining a text closely without the use of external evidence to explain the work. Textual analysis, on the other hand, is a methodology that involves understanding language, symbols, and/or pictures present in texts to gain information regarding how people make sense of and communicate life and life experiences.

The findings reveal that animal characters are portrayed in Maranao folktales as helpful advisers who are extremely wise. They have the capability to teach human beings a lesson and allow them to rise from poverty or even from a difficult situation. They are depicted as extremely loyal who are willing to do anything when indebted or when they are grateful. Their common function or role is to provide assistance when necessary and to appear right when they are needed. They give the protagonists knowledge, talent, skill, or solution to a problem, resulting to a cooperative and beneficial relationship between human beings and animals.  They also appear as motif: magic and intelligent animals who bring in harmony, wealth, and greatness. Furthermore, they may serve as symbols. They may either represent as God’s providence or as the follies/vices and cunningness of human beings. Lastly, they are used as Deux ex Machina. They appear just when the situation has become too difficult for the protagonists, and they are introduced only when solution to a crisis is absolutely necessary. By being present, they can change the course of the story or tale. They save the day as deux ex machina to show that even if the protagonists are handsome, intelligent, or powerful, they still need assistance, a guide, and an adviser from time to time, as they are only human beings who can be vulnerable and powerless.