In the realm of literature, A Doll’s House is well explored
territory. This ‘blockbuster’ title has been analysed and research by
many...but there is one manifestation which is overlooked by most people. It is
ephemeral in play—very brief, very subtle; but it encapsules powerful ideas.
What I’m talking about is DANCE.
If you’re reading this, then you’ve most
likely read the play. So, have you ever stopped to ponder about significance of
the tarantella performed by Nora? It
certainly isn’t conspicuous at first, but it was an acute revelation for me.
The tarantella is a means of the
cognitive transition of Nora, the turning point, from a subdued character to a
strong one. The servility of Nora is fairly obvious in earlier acts,
accompanied by Torvalds’s oppression. For instance Torvald mandates her on what
to wear, what to dance, how to dance, as well as scolding Nora on several
occasions. However, once the tarantella is performed by Nora, she is unable to
effectively respond to any of Torvald’s ‘advice’ on her dancing. This is,
perhaps at more of a subconscious level, an act of defiance which is an
important milestone in her eventual transition to independency
This dance also bring out a theme of erotism. Instead of depicting a waltz, something appropriate for 19th
century, Norwegian bourgeois household, the tarantella is shown—a passionate,
Italian dance involving sensuality and capricious movements. Ibsen probably
provided this contrast to aid Nora in distracting Torvald from the letterbox. To
digress Torvald’s mind, Nora exaggerates her movement by dancing wildly in the
rehearsal scene in effort to make him aroused and mull over her beauty. This
proved successful as after the performance at the fancy-dress ball, Torvald
produces forceful, sexual insinuations, “…I have longed for nothing but you.
When I watched the seductive figures of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire; I
could endure it no longer, and that was why I brought you down so early…”[Act
III].
It is at this stage we see further
progression of her transition. Nora refuses Torvald’s sexual desires. This is
especially striking as during Ibsen’s time, where the image of the ‘perfect
wife’ were pictured as sexual playthings and servile creatures.
What really surprised me was how deep
the symbolism of the dance goes. In Italian folklore, Tarantism is a condition
caused by the bite of a wolf spider, where the only antidote for death, caused
by the venom, is by a frantic dance: the tarantella! Here, the letter metaphorically represents
the ‘venom’ as Torvald finding Nora’s fraud would result in her suicide. And so
just like the folklore mentions, Nora dances the tarantella to cure herself of
the deadly ‘venom’, in prolonging the acquisition of the letter.
Furthermore, Tarantism states that to
relieve oneself of death, non-stop dancing is required. This is another tie
between tarantella portrayed and tarantism.
It can be inferred that Nora wanted to prolong the dance as long as
possible as Torvald “had almost to bring her away by force.” [Act III] Torvald
even comments that she is “dancing as if your life depended on it”. The
dramatic irony created here is nice, since we know that life actually does
depend it.
Eventually Torvald does find out about
the letter, and according to tarantism, this event is should unfold Nora’s
death. But Nora drops the idea of suicide. She may not have died physically but
she did spiritually. In turn, Nora is reborn with a new identity, her true one.
She no longer is a masquerade but displays characteristics of maturity, finally
realising that Torvald is reason why she “has made nothing of [her] life”. [Act
III]
I’d like to add one more relevant
thing—the Neapolitan fisher-girl costume. This provides a new identity for Nora.
By dressing up as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, albeit forced by her husband to
wear it, Nora was able to free herself by escaping her everyday superficial
identity of being Torvald’s ‘pet’. The boundless nature of the dance allows unleash
her bottled emotions. Hence, her manic and frenzied dancing is not only a
distraction, but at a subconscious level the tarantella is a visual
representation of her corroded interior condition. Furthermore, the new persona
sees Nora using an imperative tone for the first time, evident in the lines
“Now play for me! I am going to dance!”; the commanding speech
greatly contrasts from her usual submissive dialect where she often refers to
herself with derogatory animal references.
