Writing 101: What Is a Motif?

Motif is a literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. Sometimes, a motif is a recurring image. Other times, it’s a repeated word, phrase, or topic expressed in language. A motif can be a recurring situation or action. It can be a sound or smell, a temperature, even a color.

The key aspect is that a motif repeats, and through this repetition helps to illuminate the dominant ideas, central themes, and deeper meaning of a story.

Authors utilize motifs for multiple purposes. Motifs can:

• Evoke a mood
• Illuminate main themes
• Engage the audience on an intuitive level
• Create unique symbolic meanings through repetition
• Establish a pattern of ideas

The concepts of motif and theme have some overlap, and occasionally you will hear people use the two literary terms interchangeably. Recognizing the distinction between the two literary devices, however, can enhance your appreciation of the craft of storytelling.

• Themes are the main ideas of a work of literature. They represent the meaning or question behind the series of events that make up the narrative.
• Motifs are recurring elements that point to these themes. In other words, motif is a tool used to craft theme. While themes are abstract and conceptual, motifs are tangible and concrete.

If a story features repeated images of handwashing, mopping floors, and refreshing rain, then these images of cleansing water are a recurring literary motif. A theme of the story might be “the desire for purification.” The theme is a matter of interpretation, open to debate, but the motif is an indisputable pattern in the text.

Motifs frequently incorporate symbols, but a symbol is not always a motif.

• A symbol is an object that represents something else. A red rose can represent romance. A crown may represent power. A gold coin represents wealth. A dove represents peace. And a snake, depending on its use, can represent either poison or fertility.
• Motifs are often symbols. The famous green light across the water in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is both a symbol — representing what Gatsby desires but can never fully reach — and a motif, reappearing at multiple key moments in the novel.
• A symbol can appear just a single time in a story.
• To constitute a motif, by contrast, an element must appear repeatedly.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Yorick’s skull is an obvious symbol of death — or more specifically, as Hamlet discusses aloud, the inevitability of death. But since Yorick’s skull is the only skull to appear in the play, the skull is not a motif.

To help you get more familiar with motifs, are a few motif examples from famous works of film and literature:

1. 1. The Godfather films: In Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather series, oranges are a visual motif. Oranges are repeatedly featured on screen just before a character dies. Outside of these movies, oranges have no established relationship with death—in fact, citrus fruits are more likely to be associated with warmth, sunshine, sweetness, and life. But by repeatedly placing oranges in close proximity to characters’ demises, the films establish oranges as a recurring motif related to the theme of death. This unique motif creates a compelling tension between death and the vitality and energy one ordinarily associates with fruit. The orange motif hints at one of the central ideas of Coppola’s films: that death is inevitable, and can come at any moment, no matter how eagerly one clings to life.
2. 2. Hamlet: In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the language of decay is a verbal motif, expressed in recurring language. In Act V, while holding Yorick’s skull, Hamlet observes: “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft.” Earlier in the play, he comments that both kings and beggars will be eaten by worms, and compares human conception to “breed[ing] maggots in a dead dog.” This repeated language of decay speaks to two of the play’s themes: the mystery of death, and the corruption of institutions.
3. 3. Jane Eyre: In Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, fire is a motif incorporated in the story’s imagery, language, and key plot incidents. Throughout the book, hearth fires evoke warmth and comfort; candlelight is described as dazzling and energizing; and passionate characters are described as “hot,” like “fire,” and “like Vulcan” (the Roman god of the forge). But fire is also presented as a dangerous force in the novel: fires cause two destructive events, while a major character’s pyromania embodies her mad, uncontrollable fervor. (Ice and coldness also constitute a contrasting motif in the novel, symbolizing the absence of emotion and tenderness.) Taken together, this fire motif represents strong emotion and love—feelings Jane requires for a full life, but which also have the potential for harm. Jane’s efforts to achieve the right balance of such powerful feelings is a major arc of her story.
4. 4. A Tale of Two Cities: In his epic novel surrounding the French Revolution, Charles Dickens uses duality as a motif. Throughout the book, various characters, settings, and images have doubles or counterparts. For instance, the story takes place across two cities (London and Paris). Charles Darnay has his double in Sydney Carton, with whom he shares a physical resemblance. The two key female characters, Lucie and Madame Defarge, are opposites of one another. Indeed, the famous opening lines of the novel explore the idea of duality (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”). This motif highlights the central themes of the book: the fragility of justice, and the possibility of redemption from the forces of darkness.
5. 5. Slaughterhouse Five: Kurt Vonnegut’s novel employs a repeated phrase as a motif: “So it goes.” Vonnegut adds this phrase as a commentary on each death that occurs in the story, no matter how major or minor. This motif serves to reinforce one of the main themes of this and other works by Vonnegut: that regardless of our class, circumstances, or differences, death comes equally to all people. While this message may feel dark and depressing, Vonnegut interprets it differently, suggesting that by accepting the inevitability of death, we can live fuller lives and find common ground with others.

When you’ve finished reading a book (or experiencing another narrative work), take some time to reflect upon it. Were there particular images, types of language, or situations that repeated? If the motifs were well crafted, chances are that they will have made an impression on you. What do you think was the significance of the motif you’ve identified? How did it relate to the deeper themes of the work?

You can also look for motifs while you read (or experience the narrative for the first time). If a particular passage or scene jumps out at you because of its striking language or imagery, take note of it. Then, keep an eye out as you continue reading for more passages that make use of this imagery or language. If you encounter another one, you’ve found a motif.

Writers develop motifs in different ways. To start shaping compelling motifs in your own work, here’s a step-by-step approach you can use:

1. 1. Spend some time thinking about the central themes of your story. Take a walk or bike ride, or meditate, or stare at the ceiling for a while — whatever gives you a space to think.
2. 2. Write down the themes that come to mind. You should be able to state your themes as short, clear phrases, like “The Dangers of Technology,” “Anger and Forgiveness” or “The Power of Friendship.”
3. 3. Looking at each of the themes you’ve written, jot down any images, words, memories, or events that come to mind for each. These ideas will serve as the “raw materials” for your motifs. For example, if your theme is “The Desire for Freedom,” some details that could serve as motifs include police sirens, a courtroom setting, or the American flag.
4. 4. From the ideas you’ve brainstormed, pick one element and think about where it might fit best in the story. Remember, a motif must be used repeatedly in order to be effective. Is there a recurring character or setting best embodies this idea? What would happen if your chosen element popped up at your main character’s most triumphant moments? What about their lowest moments?

When you’ve incorporated an evocative element into a satisfying pattern in your story, you’ll have crafted a great motif!

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