Motifs and symbols are literary devices that authors have used throughout the centuries. In fact, both motifs and symbols are used in all artistic media: painters, sculptors, playwrights, and musicians all use motifs and use symbols in the most advanced forms of their respective artforms. And while they are similar literary terms, “motif” and “symbol” are not synonyms. There are distinct differences between the definition of symbol and the definition of motif, and they serve somewhat different functions in literature.
Examples and Forms of Symbols throughout history:
1. The earliest recorded forms of human storytelling—cave paintings and hieroglyphics—are quite literally symbols representing more complex narratives or beliefs.
2. Ancient Greek theater, which is the basis for much of today’s narrative artforms, used symbolic props including phallic objects to represent Dionysus, the god of fertility. Symbolism remained in wide use throughout the Middle Ages (almost always with religious connotations) and then, from the Renaissance onward, returned in full force to represent human desires ranging from lust to ambition to heartbreak.
3. William Shakespeare used symbols to represent inner conscience (think of blood in Macbeth or family names in Romeo and Juliet) and William Blake used religious symbols (including Jesus himself) to represent human emotion and desire (as in “The Everlasting Gospel”).
4. Fairy tales frequently contain literary symbolism to convey a story’s central idea to young audiences. The Brothers Grimm frequently used the forest as a symbol of both mystery and peril, as in this passage from Hansel and Gretel, where the children continue deeper into the woods.
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