Doll's+House+symbolism+analysis

At the end of //A Doll’s House,// Nora slams the door as she leaves her husband after coming to the realization that she has been living with a stranger for the past eight years. While this is the literal meaning, it can be interpreted as leaving the past behind. Most of the characters, Nora especially, are leaving past conflicts and relationships behind as they close the door on their past and move ahead toward the future. A masquerade is a kind of ball where people put on masks to disguise themselves from everyone else. In Ibsen’s play, Nora and Torvald go to a masquerade, after which Torvald will check the mail. The masquerade is symbolically used to show how many of the characters hide their true natures and only show the part of them they want others to see. The letters in Ibsen’s play are Krogstad’s explanation to Helmer of Nora’s sin of forging her father’s signature. Nora convinces her husband not to read the mail for a day or two by asking him not to check the mail until after the masquerade. The letters’ usage can be interpreted as a metaphor for the secrets each of the characters hide, including Mrs. Linde hiding how she and Krogstad were once in love and Dr. Rank hiding his disease. The Tarantella is a frantic and fast Italian folk dance. Nora pretends to forget how to dance the Tarantella to buy time for a “miracle.” This dance can be used as a metaphor for just how frantic Nora’s plight has become. Macaroons are cookies topped with nuts, usually almonds or coconuts. In //A Doll’s House,// Nora secretively chomps down on macaroons. This could be a representation of the sins we all commit in everyday life, in Nora’s case, gluttony. The fancy dress is mended by Mrs. Linde for Nora to wear at the masquerade. As Mrs. Linde mends the tear in the fabric, she also begins to mend the relationships of Nora and Torvald, and Krogstad and herself. The dress can be interpreted as a relationship, and the tear in the fabric as a rift in the relationship.