Amotif (/moʊˈtiːf/ ⓘmoh-TEEF) is any distinctive feature or idea that recurs across astory; often, it helps develop other narrative elements such astheme ormood.[1][2]
A narrative motif can be created through the use ofimagery, structural components,language, and other elements throughout literature. The flute inArthur Miller's playDeath of a Salesman is a recurrent sound motif that conveys rural and idyllic notions. Another example from modernAmerican literature is the green light found in the novelThe Great Gatsby byF. Scott Fitzgerald.
Narratives may include multiple motifs of varying types. InShakespeare's playMacbeth, he uses a variety of narrative elements to create many different motifs.Imagistic 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 ofgood and evil. The play also features the central motif of thewashing of hands, one that combines both verbal images and the movement of the actors.
In a narrative, a motif establishes a pattern of ideas that may serve different conceptual purposes in different works.Kurt Vonnegut, for example, in hisnon-linear narratives such asSlaughterhouse-Five andCat's Cradle makes frequent use ofmotif to connect different moments that might seem otherwise separated by time and space.[3] In the Americanscience fictioncult classicBlade Runner, directorRidley Scott uses motifs to not only establish a dark and shadowyfilm noir atmosphere,[4] but also to weave together the thematic complexities of the plot. Throughout the film, the recurring motif of "eyes" is connected to a constantly changing flow of images, and sometimes violent manipulations, in order to call into question our ability, and the narrator's own, to accurately perceive and understand reality.[5]
Any number of narrative elements withsymbolic significance can be classified as motifs—whether they are images, spoken or written phrases, structural or stylisticdevices, or other elements like sound, physical movement, or visual components in dramatic narratives. While it may appear interchangeable with the related concept,theme,[6] a general rule is that a theme is abstract and a motif is concrete.[7] A theme is usually defined as a message, statement, or idea, while a motif is simply a detail repeated for larger symbolic meaning.
In other words, a narrative motif—a detail repeated in a pattern of meaning—can produce a theme; but it can also create other narrative aspects. Nevertheless, the distinction between the two terms remains difficult to pinpoint. For instance, the term "thematic patterning" has been used to describe the way in which "recurrent thematic concepts" are patterned to produce meaning, such as the "moralistic motifs" found throughout the stories ofOne Thousand and One Nights.[8]
The dictionary definition ofmotif at Wiktionary