Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.

Framing

This novel plots one guilty creature after the next, only to wipe the slate clean and have someone else entirely prove to be the guilty figure causing distress at Hogwarts and in the Magical community at large. This motif of framing reminds us all that rarely are things as easy as they may appear. The wizard world is full of secrets and spells, and the false alarms in Harry's detective-work, the deeper he will have to dig and ultimately the wiser mature wizard he will become. This framing has a great deal to do with the earlier stated themes of unjust executions and the duality of things.