A Doll's House symbolism (integral rather than overt)
Calling card
-A card with two black crosses -Meant Dr. Rank was dying -He was in love with Nora -Torvald wanted Nora just to be his little doll but Rank wanted a respected and loved relationship -A real relationship
The freezing black water
-Nora contemplating suicide -Black- death, despair, darkness, keeping the women in the dark -Freezing- women are locked in their place, frozen can't get out
The Christmas tree
-Only Nora worked on the tree -The children were not allowed to see the tree until the tree was finished - parallels with Nora's role in the family: The Christmas Tree acts as a representative of Nora herself, and often reflects her mental state. It is traditionally a festive object meant to serve a decorative purpose, symbolizing Nora's value to Torvald as an pretty object there to charm and entertain him. -Dressing up as his little doll -As her situation changes so does the tree; she gets worse and the tree gets more disheveled
Macaroons
-Part of the deception to Torvald -Temptation -Shows Torvald's control on Nora
Mail Box and the key
-Secrets -Forbidden to Nora -Accentuates the dominance of Torvald over Nora -Hidden messages
Italian Coustum
-Very colorful and elaborate -Like her exhausting efforts -Shows that she is on display like a doll
stove
HELMER: "How warm and cosy our home is, Nora. Here is shelter for you; here I will protect you like a hunted dove that I have saved from a hawk's claws."
The house setting
HELMER: "You will still remain in my house, that is a matter of course." This small domestic setting, in which all three acts take place, helps to create the feelings of oppression and repression that run through the play. However, although the action is all in one room, society's pressures and expectations, particularly with regard to reputation, press in on the world of the drama from outside and are brought into the home through letters and through the characters who visit.
tarantella
Helmer [as he plays]. Slower, slower! Nora. I can't do it any other way. Helmer. Not so violently, Nora! Nora. This is the way. Helmer [stops playing]. No, no--that is not a bit right. -a Spanish dance that will supposedly save you from a tarantula's poison -For Nora this may mean that she is trying to get rid of this debt -The debt is the poison and guilt -Dancing for her life The tarantella is a dance form characterised by quick, light steps and an upbeat tempo, and serves symbol of Nora's anxiety and fear regarding Krogstad revealing to Helmer that she had taken. The tarantella is also believed to be based upon the frenzied dancing that was believed to be the cure for hysteria brought on by a tarantula bite. Thus, the fact that this dance form is derived from the movement believed to cure oneself of a disease is symbolic with respect to Nora, as Nora dancing the already hurried dance in an even more frantic manner symbolises her desperation to escape from the fear of the consequences of the loan being revealed to Helmer. It is a physical manifestation of her desire to quell this fear. Another interpretation is that Nora's dancing of the tarantella is symbolic of her desire to break from the constraints that society has placed on her.
Title
The title of the play is worth considering here, also, implying, as it does, so many things about the Helmers and their marriage. The indefinite article 'a' suggests their situation is representative of many.
christmas time / NY
renewal or rebirth ' as I am now, I am no wife to you"
