The Tarantella Dance in a Doll’s House

In A Doll's House, Ibsen uses many symbols. One symbol that is used to

symbolize Nora's character; is a dance called the Tarantella. The Tarantella

is a folk dance from southern Italy. It goes from an already quick tempo to an

even quicker one, while alternating between major and minor keys. It is

characterized by swift movements, foot tapping, and on the women's part,

exaggerated ruffling of petticoats. It involves a lot of very fast spinning

and jumping until one cannot dance anymore and is so exhausted they fall to

the ground. It is in constant uncertainty, like Nora's character.

The tarantella has a very interesting history. Its name derives from a little

southern town of Italy called Taranto. It was believed that if a spider called

the tarantula bit the townspeople, the only way to survive its bite was to do a

dance called the Tarantella. The locals believed this was the only cure. If the

people bitten did not dance they would suffer severe pain, muscle spasms, vomiting;

most eventually died.

There were not any drugs that could counteract the venom. Many believed that the

sweating associated with the dance flushed the venom from the dancer's bodies.

They would continue dancing for hours and even days. It was so common that

musicians