"Nora, darling, you're dancing as if your life depended of it!" (Ibsen 204).
Act ll of "A Doll's House" continues to focus on the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Helmet as well as outside forces/relationships which have an impact on their relationship. The plot of Act ll revolves around Torvald and Nora's preparations for an upcoming party. While preparing her dress and dance for the party, Nora must also deal with keeping Krogstad's letter explaining everything out of Torvald's sight. Nora's hysterics in Act ll are caused by Krogstad's words of reproach. Despite all this, at the party, Nora is expected to perform the Tarantella. I believe this dance becomes an essential part of Act ll because it withholds symbolism connecting to the play. The Tarantella was named after the tarantula spider, whose poisonous bite was mistakenly believed to cause 'tarantism,' an uncontrollable urge for wild dancing. The cure prescribed by doctors was for the sufferer to dance to exhaustion. Modern psychologists speculate that the true cause of the disorder, which achieved its highest profile in the nineteenth century and which involved symptoms of what would now be called hysteria, was not the spider's bite but the repressed morals of that age. The only outlet for passionate self-expression, they reason, was the Tarantella.
Act ll of "A Doll's House" continues to focus on the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Helmet as well as outside forces/relationships which have an impact on their relationship. The plot of Act ll revolves around Torvald and Nora's preparations for an upcoming party. While preparing her dress and dance for the party, Nora must also deal with keeping Krogstad's letter explaining everything out of Torvald's sight. Nora's hysterics in Act ll are caused by Krogstad's words of reproach. Despite all this, at the party, Nora is expected to perform the Tarantella. I believe this dance becomes an essential part of Act ll because it withholds symbolism connecting to the play. The Tarantella was named after the tarantula spider, whose poisonous bite was mistakenly believed to cause 'tarantism,' an uncontrollable urge for wild dancing. The cure prescribed by doctors was for the sufferer to dance to exhaustion. Modern psychologists speculate that the true cause of the disorder, which achieved its highest profile in the nineteenth century and which involved symptoms of what would now be called hysteria, was not the spider's bite but the repressed morals of that age. The only outlet for passionate self-expression, they reason, was the Tarantella.
It is significant that Torvald tells Nora to practice the Tarantella while he shuts himself away in his office. While Torvald is ostensibly being indulgent towards his wife, the image of her practicing this passionate dance alone and unheard emphasizes her isolation within her marriage. Based on this, Nora's wild dancing of the tarantella can symbolism her dancing in order to rid herself of a deadly poison. The poison could symbolize either the threat posed by Krogstad , or the poison of deception and hypocrisy that characterizes the Helmer marriage.
In my Act l Analysis blog, I asked the question of whether or not Nora was putting on an act when interacting with her husband or if she was truly as dependent and dumbfounded as she perceived herself to be when dialoguing with him. After reading and analyzing Act ll I firmly believe that she's definitely putting on an act when interacting with Torvald. For instance, Nora pretended to need Torvald's help learning the Tarantella and jauntily asks for his help. When in reality it's only a distraction to delay Torvald's reading of Krogstad's letter. "Nora: Sit down and play for me, Torvald dear; criticize, and show me where I'm wrong, the way you always do..." (Isben 203). Is Nora her husband's little skylark after all... ?
** Question to Audience :
- What significance and/or symbolism do you believe the dance of the Tarantella has to Act ll of the play ?
** Question to Audience :
- What significance and/or symbolism do you believe the dance of the Tarantella has to Act ll of the play ?
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