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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
Section 2
Explanation and Analysis—Occult Revolutionaries:
Throughout Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke includes occultism as a motif, capitalizing on the anti-atheist sentiments of his audience to discredit the revolutionaries and their ideas. In the following passage, for instance, wherein Burke attempts to refute the sermon of one Doctor Richard Price, both allusion and metaphor feature as a means of tying occultism to the arguments of Burke's opponent:
On the forenoon of the 4th of November last, Doctor Richard Price, a non-conforming minister of eminence, preached at the dissenting meeting-house of the Old Jewry, to his club or society, a very extraordinary miscellaneous sermon, in which there are some good moral and religious sentiments, and not ill expressed, mixed up in a sort of porridge of various political opinions and reflections: but the revolution in France is the grand ingredient in the cauldron.
Here, Burke uses metaphor to equate "the revolution in France" with an ingredient in the revolutionaries' "cauldron" of political ideas. This figurative language undoubtedly brings witchcraft to mind, along with its unsavory heathen associations. Burke may have used this particular metaphor as a means of vaguely alluding to the witches from Act 4, Scene 1 of Macbeth: "Round about the cauldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw." Burke includes this metaphor and allusion to associate Price with a lifestyle many readers at the time would have considered unsavory, if not outright evil.
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Section 3
Explanation and Analysis—Inheritance and Disease:
Throughout Reflections, heredity emerges as a recurring motif, used to describe not only the familial monarchical succession but also the state and health of the country. Burke will often utilize biological and political concepts interchangeably, as in the following metaphor, in which he equates political irregularity with disease:
No experience has taught us, that in any other course or method than that of an hereditary
crown, our liberties can be regularly perpetuated and preserved sacred as our hereditary right. An irregular, convulsive movement may be necessary to throw off an irregular, convulsive disease. But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British constitution.
In this passage, Burke reveals that he considers the British monarchy equivalent to a "healthy" body: one that, over time, naturally experiences "irregular, convulsive" diseases that must be treated as such. Discarding the entire body for the sake of the disease, in his mind, is a gross misstep.
It seems only natural for Burke to equate politics and biology throughout his work, considering the hereditary nature of succession under the British monarchy. Monarchical politics are, quite literally, a biological matter, with heredity being the natural meeting point of the two spheres. Burke simply takes this meeting point and expands upon it, extending biological metaphors to apply to all manner of political situations.
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Section 9
Explanation and Analysis—Polemic and Religion:
Throughout the text, Burke compares revolutionaries to members of some sort of congregation, worshiping at the altar of ideology and attending polemical rather than religious sermons. His tone towards this worship is derisive, seemingly perturbed at the audacity and single-mindedness of the "worshipers" who frequent these societies. For Burke, this motif is not only a series of metaphors designed to persuade his readers but a genuine concern that the "worship" of revolution will replace Christianity. He makes this connection directly in the following passage:
But if, in the moment of riot, and in a drunken delirium from the hot spirit drawn out of the alembick of hell, which in France is now so furiously boiling, we should uncover our nakedness by throwing off that Christian religion which has hitherto been our boast and comfort [...] we are apprehensive [...] that some uncouth, pernicious, and degrading superstition, might take place of it.
By creating this motif, both in the above passage and throughout the text, Burke calls to the reader's attention the heretical nature of revolution. This persuasive device would have been particularly effective at the time Burke published Reflections on the Revolution in France. The majority of Burke's audience in England would have been literate, educated Christians, in whose minds accusations of atheism would seriously damage the credibility of the accused.
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