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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Key Examples in David Copperfield
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—False Starts:
New beginnings and false starts are a motif in the novel. David is lucky to have many chances. Other characters, such as his baby brother, barely have a single chance at life. Still, it is not until the very end of the novel, when David marries Agnes, that he manages to start something that has an unambiguously happy ending.
Related Themes:
Chapter 1: I Am Born
Explanation and Analysis—Drowning:
The threat of drowning, both literally and figuratively, runs throughout the novel as a motif. It appears first in Chapter 1, when David recounts being born with a caul (a fetal membrane over his face), which was raffled off:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady [...]. It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two.
Related Themes:
Chapter 33: Blissful
Explanation and Analysis—Drowning:
The threat of drowning, both literally and figuratively, runs throughout the novel as a motif. It appears first in Chapter 1, when David recounts being born with a caul (a fetal membrane over his face), which was raffled off:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady [...]. It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two.
Related Themes:
Chapter 53: Another Retrospect
Explanation and Analysis—Replayed Memories:
The present-tense exploration of memories recurs as a motif throughout the novel. For example, in Chapter 53, the retrospective narrator describes the end of Dora's life:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I must pause yet once again. O, my child-wife, there is a figure in the moving crowd before my memory, quiet and still, saying in its innocent love and childish beauty, Stop to think of me—turn to look upon the little blossom, as it flutters to the ground!
I do. All else grows dim, and fades away. I am again with Dora, in our cottage.
Related Themes:
