Present Status of Motif Classification

Present Status of Motif Classification John E. Keller, University of North Carolina At the December 1953 meeting the Comediantes faced for the second time the problem of classifying motifs or themes in the comedia. Again, as in 1952, no satisfactory agreements as to a definite method or even as to definable goals were reached; but a good deal was brought into clearer focus about the problem, and two quite separate schools of thought emerged. This in itself was a step forward, for whereas in 1952 the group had approached the problem with little preparation, in 1953 some of us came to the discussion strengthened by considerable study and thought; there was even a tentative plan for classification. Professor Reichenberger, in a letter to the Comediantes, discussed theme and motif and presented some workable and acceptable definitions of the two terms, which we can no longer treat as synonymous. "For the comedia?' he wrote, "and probably in general , it is clear that Theme should be used when we refer to the substance of the poetic unity, from a sonnet to a whole play, and a Motif in reference to something subordinate to the substance of a given unit. A theme is substantial, a motif is ornamental. For instance, Reversal of Fortune can be a theme of a play and again of a sonnet within a play. In the latter case, I would say it is the theme of the sonnet, but is used as a motif within the play. A motif can appear magnified to a theme and a theme can be reduced to a motif: it is a matter of the function of such an element within the poetic unity." This definition is of great import because it reveals perfectly why there is such a line of cleavage between the two separate schools of thought. One school holds the opinion that in the classification of comedia only the main or central themes should be taken into account. A number of scholars, among them Professors Ruth Lee Kennedy and Courtney Bruerton, feel strongly that it would be of greater value to list all the main themes in the comedia, and with this as a skeleton, go on later to the subsidiary motifs, if later these seemed to demand classification. Such a classification of themes would provide an index listing all the plays in the field that treat, say, of the "power of the stars over human destiny," "the fear of the royal father for his royal succession," or "la fuerza del natural" that instinctively draws together those of the same blood. No one can deny the great worth of such a clas-> sification of themes. It would most certainly be less complex and detailed than a classification of motifs which would definitely need a system of cross-reference that would doubtless be complicated in the extreme. The second school of thought tended to follow, in idea at least, the kind of motif classification suggested in the article in the Bulletin for Fall, 1953. This classification followed rather closely the system of Stith Thompson in his Motif-Index of Folk Literature , although it differed in some aspects. An index of this nature lends itself to the broader and more detailed motif classification envisaged by such men as Gerald Wade, Sturgis Leavitt, and Arnold Reichenberger; however, these scholars, as well as others of the second school of thought, feel that the Thompson system, as it stands, is not the perfect solution to the problem of the comedia. They point out, nevertheless, that even though complex and difficult to manipulate , and even not all-comprehensive, the Thompson Motif-Index has served well for nearly twenty years the needs of folklorists, thematologists, and students of comparative literature. Certainly, a complete motif-index of the comedia would require the combined efforts of many scholars for many years, just as the Thompson Index made such demands; 12 but a growing 'classification of comedia motifs, even though it could not attain perfection and completeness, would render no small service in the interim. My colleague, Sturgis Leavitt, believes that a motif-index might be started and issued in yearly installments . If the plays of some author were analyzed and...