In narrative, a motif is any recurring element – such as images, spoken or written phrases, structural or stylistic devices, or other elements like sound, physical movement – that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative (or literary) aspects such as theme or mood.
To distinguish between a motif and theme a general rule is that a theme is abstract and a motif is concrete.
A theme is an idea or concept that is central to a story, which can often be summed in a single word (i.e., love, death, betrayal).
An example of a motif in the movie Inception is the totem:
- The Spinning Top
- The Dice
- The Casino Chips
- The Pawn
They don’t reveal the main idea of the film, but they carry symbolic meaning that help us understand what the theme of the movie might be. What do you think the totems mean?
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he uses a variety of narrative elements to create many different motifs. References to blood and water are continually repeated. The phrase “fair is foul, and foul is fair” is echoed at many points in the play, a combination that mixes the concepts of good and evil. The play also features the central motif of the washing of hands, one that combines both verbal images and the movement of the actors.
By the end of studying this play we should have good idea of what these motifs symbolise.