Symbols & Motifs in A Doll’s House
There are many symbols and motifs in A Doll’s House.
● A symbol is an object, action or word that has a deeper meaning - it represents something else.
● A motif is a recurring element (object, character, phrase, etc) that has a particular significance. A symbol that recurs throughout a work becomes a motif.
Collaborate with your group to analyze ONE of the following symbols or motifs. Once all groups have completed their analysis, please make a copy of the document and
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Character(s) Key Examples
Symbol / Motif Associated with (Give speaker, quote, & page numbers)
Symbol / Motif
Christmas Trees Nora Helmer Stage directions at the start of Act 1:
“Enter NORA. She is happy, humming a tune. She
is dressed in outdoor clothes, and carries a number
of parcels, which she puts down on the table, right.
She leaves the hall door open, and through it can be
seen a PORTER, carrying a Christmas tree and a
basket” (Ibsen 4).
Nora: [begins dressing the tree]. A candle here and
flowers here--the horrible man! It’s all
nonsense--there’s nothing wrong. The tree shall be
splendid! I will do everything I can to please you,
Torvald!” (Ibsen 25).
Stage directions at the start of Act 2:
“...the Christmas tree stands stripped of its
decorations and with its candles burned to stumps”
(Ibsen 29).
Doors opening Nora & Torvald Nora: “There is a shilling. No keep the change.
& closing [The Porter thanks her, and goes out. Nora shuts the
door.]” (Ibsen 4).
[Helmer goes into his room. The maid ushers in
Mrs. Linde, who is in traveling dress, and shuts the
door] (Ibsen 8).
Analysis of the Significance
of the Symbol / Motif
Act 1: Christmas is a time of familial warmth and love. It symbolizes the
arrival of the “savior;” perhaps, Nora is being “saved” as a result of the events
in this play. The tree represents family unity and excitement for Christmas →
joy Nora takes in making her home seem welcoming and warm for the
holidays. Presents reveal her generous spirit, but also might function as a
mask to hide her inability to “love” her children. Presents could be a
surrogate expression of real love and affection--buying love.
Nora later references the tree as a prop that represents her love and devotion to
her husband and family, carrying also the symbolic nature of false
appearances, as she uses its beauty to hide the insecurities she begins to feel.
Act 2: The christmas tree is stripped and the candles are burned out → could
symbolize the end of Nora’s innocence and foreshadows the events that will
break apart the Helmer family. Her time has run out and the light and mirth of
her life is dissolved.
- Doors opening and closing is used throughout the novel to show
aspirations of independence and dreams in the novel. It can also
resemble opportunities opening and closing
- Act 1: In the beginning of the play, stage direction of shutting doors
is utilized to end conversations or transition from one topic to
another. For example, No keep the change. [The Porter thanks her,
and goes out. Nora shuts the door.]” (Ibsen 4). Evidently, this was

Helmer: “The most wonderful thing of all?”
[The sound of a door shutting is heard from below]
(Ibsen 67).
References to Nora Helmer Nora: “Look, here is a new suit for Ivar, and a
“dolls” & “A sword; and a horse and a trumpet for Bob; and a
Doll’s House” doll and dolly’s bedstead for Emmy,--they are very
plain, but anyway she will soon break them into
pieces” (5).
Nora: “I was simply transferred from Papa's hands
into yours… I have existed merely to perform tricks
for you… It is your fault that I have made nothing
of my life” (Ibsen 63).
Nora: “But our home has been nothing but a
playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at
home I was Papa's doll-child; and here the children
have been my dolls” (Ibsen 63).
Nora: “He called me his doll-child, and he played
used to transition out of the dialogue with Porter. Even though this is
not imperative to the meaning and main ideas of the novel, the author
utilized this technique to make the novel flow efficiently.
- Even though there are multiple examples of doors opening and
closing throughout the play,
- Act 3: The most meaningful of them all is when Nora shut the door
on her way out, leaving her husband and children.
- This was a significant portion of the play because Nora leaving the
house and opening the door symbolizes her finding her independence
and pursuing her dreams, values, and herself. The door signifies the
opportunity she has to mold herself to the person she wants to
become. This challenges the prevailing values of the time which was
Ibsen´s main goal of this. We wanted to contradict the values of this
time to show the realistic lives these women have to live.
- By Nora opening the door and leaving, it can reach everyday women,
influencing them to be independent.
Act 1: The play begins with Nora describing how she has purchased toys for
her children for Christmas. The gifts include toys that a doll would generally
play with, such as swords, horses, trumpets, a doll, a doll’s bedstead, and
clothes. In addition to enforcing gender roles, as Nora gives specific toys to
her boys versus her young girl, Nora is seen manipulating her dolls here. Also,
the idea that her daughter will soon break the bedstead foreshadows how Nora
will later break the dollhouse when she leaves.
Act 3: Nora was raised to be the perfect little wife. For her whole life she has
basically been a living doll that her father and husband played with. They told
her what she could and could not do and when she could do it. They would
make all of her decisions for her without taking into account what she wanted.
Her whole life has been her doing what other people thought she should do
and not what she has wanted to do, so she feels as if she has wasted her life
pleasing others and has done nothing for herself.
Act 3: Nora notices the endless cycles of people being treated like dolls and
does not want her kids to experience the same treatment from her that she
experienced from her father and husband. This connects to the idea in the play
that parents pass down their toxic traits to their children and Nora is realizing
this before it is too late to make a change.
Act 3: Nora refers to how her father treated her as a doll when she was
 with me just as I used to play with my dolls” (75).
Nora: “Perhaps--if your doll is taken away from
you” (Ibsen 66).
Nora: “No, dogs don’t bite nice little dolly
children” (21).
Nora: “I have not been able to put aside much from
my housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a
good table. I couldn’t let my children be shabbily
dressed” (Ibsen 14).
Letters, notes & Helmer, Nora, Helmer: “It looks as if he were announcing his own
mail Krogstad, Dr. Rank death” (69).
Act 3 Stage Directions of Helmer:
“Tears up the bond and both letters, throws them all
into the stove, and watches them burn” (72).
Nora: “In the letter-box. [Steals across to the hall
door.] There it lies-- Torvald, Torvald, there is no
hope for us now!” (43).
growing up, and how this attitude towards her was reciprocated once she
married Helmer. She feels like her only assets are her appearance and other
shallow aspects, since her true character and personality aren’t appreciated or
valued.
Act 3: Here, Nora admits that she had been living as a doll in a dollhouse.
Because dolls represent a child’s toys, Ibsen may be implying that both
Helmer and Nora need to learn(which is what Nora is leaving to do) and that
the patriarchy that placed the man as the dominant figure may be outdated and
immature, further implying that people need to mature and grow away from
that lifestyle. Helmer displays his immaturity when he says that he can handle
everything, which ends up being false. This indicates that he needs to grow up
as well without Nora.
Act 1: In this passage, Nora reveals how appearing as a “perfect doll” will
make one’s life simpler and says how conforming to societal gender norms is
easier than standing against these expectations and paving a new life. Nora
feels trapped in her societal role and is thus reflecting these concepts on her
children, who will most likely feel barred into their gender roles as well. Nora
treats her children like her dolls, making them believe that they are completely
safe and protected, just as dolls would be in a dollhouse. This reinforces the
idea that Nora is raising her kids in an artificial environment, which is also
seen when she plays Hide and Seek with her “nice little dolly children” (Ibsen
19).
Act 1: Nora feels like she has to make sure everything is perfect for her
husband and that her children, or her dolls, are pristine and perfectly dressed.
This effort resembles Nora’s attempts to maintain the perfect appearance of a
doll’s house.
- The letters that Helmer reads aloud are constantly bearing bad news,
symbolizing how the letters bring destruction and devastation into the
Helmer’s household. Dr. Rank’s letter is announcing his death, which
is very devastating for Nora and Helmer. Plus Krogstad’s letter also
bears news that tears apart Nora and Helmer, therefore showing how
letters seperate the family and bring negative feelings for Nora and
Helmer.
- Act 3: As Helmer read the letter from Krogstad, he felt extremely
troubled by Nora’s actions, leading up to the ending of their marriage.

Names and Torvald & Nora Helmer: “My little songbird must never do that
Nicknames again. A song bird must have a clean beak to chirp
with-- no false notes! [puts his arm around her
waist]” (26).
Helmer: ‘Of course you couldn’t, poor little
girl“(8).
Helmer: “Try and calm yourself, and make your
mind easy again, my frightened little singing-bird”
(61).
Nora: “Our home has been nothing but a playroom.
I have been your doll-wife” (75).
Helmer: “Is that my little lark twittering out
there?... Is it my little squirrel bustling about?... Has
my little spendthrift been wasting money again?”
(4).
Evidently, this symbolizes Helmer feeling defeated because his entire
reputation would be ruined from Nora’s actions. He knew he’d never
be free if anyone found out, thus, he burns them in hopes Nora
wouldn’t leave and he’d be a free man.
- The letter that Krogstad dropped into the letterbox of the Helmer’s
household seemingly determined the inevitable fate of the
relationship between Nora and Torvald. This letter held the truth
about an enormous secret that Nora had been keeping from her
husband and generally acted as Nora’s breaking point as well as the
end of the Helmer’s marriage. While this letter acted as the
destruction of a marriage it also symbolized the newfound freedom
that Nora would begin to have.
- Act 1: Torvald’s use of patronizing nicknames while talking to Nora
illustrates his treatment towards her; he views her as almost a child
who needs to be dependent on him, and through his degrading tone
and nicknames he manages to both disregard whatever Nora is saying
and refer to her as someone lesser. Rather than regarding Nora as the
grown woman she is, Torvald acts in a condescending manner by
referring to her as a “poor little girl” making her seem helpless to him
no matter what she does.
- Act 1: Through the use of pet names Ibsen reveals his a husband such
as Torvald belittles his wife and treats her as if she is a trained pet
instead of a human being. Specifically when Torl\vald calls for
Nora’s obedience he will call her by names such as his ”little
singing-bird” or “skylark” thus it gives off the idea that he feels the
need to have complete control over her rather than equal standing
(26, 33). Ibsen also portrays this within his stage directions because
Torvald is constantly grabs her in a controlling manner so that she
seems submissive, which she is for most of the novel, and completely
under his control.
- Act 3: Nora has a conversation with Torvald and expresses that she is
just his “doll-wife” inferring that she is like a puppet because she just
goes along with whatever her husband tells her because he is in
control of everything she does.
- Act 1: The specific nicknames that Helmer uses while talking to
Nora all give the idea of a small helpless animal, showing how she

Illness, diseases Helmer Helmer: “Because such an atmosphere of lies
& death Nora infects and poisons the whole life of a home. Each
Dr. Rank breath the children take in such a house is full of the
germs of evil” (Ibsen 27).
Nora: “His father was a horrible man who
committed all sorts of excesses; and that is why his
son was sickly from childhood, do you
understand?” (Ibsen 36).
Rank: “To have to pay this penalty for another
man’s sin? Is there any justice in that? And in every
single family, in one way or another, some such
inexorable retribution is being exacted” (Ibsen 37).
Helmer: “Very like your father. You always find a
way some new way of wheedling money out of me,
and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in
your hands” (Ibsen 6).
Sewing, Nora ACT II
embroidery & Mrs. Linde Nora: Yes, Torvald wants me to. Look, here is the
mending Torvald dress; Torvald had it made for me there, but now it
is all so torn, and I haven’t any idea—
Mrs. Linde: We will easily put that right. Only
some of the trimming come unsewn here and there.
Needle and thread? Now then, that’s all we want.
Nora. It is nice of you.
Mrs. Linde: (sewing). So you are going to be
dressed up tomorrow Nora. I will tell you what—I
shall come in for a moment and see you in your fine
feathers. But I have completely forgotten to thank
you for a delightful evening yesterday (Ibsen 35).
was viewed by him as someone who was helpless and not capable of
taking any matters into her own hands, or being independent overall.
- Helmer delineates that a parent is obliged to be upstanding and
moral, because a parent's faults are passed on to their children like a
disease. Ibsen employs this disease motif to divulge how parent’s
mistakes naturally spread to their children, ultimately infecting the
whole family.
- Nora mentions Dr. Rank's father is the one who passed down the
syphilis to his son, contradicting what had been said before that
depicts the mother as the origin of evil in the household. Ibsen
utilizes the motif to depict the failing of family structure during the
time.
- Helmer blames Nora’s bad habit of spending money on her father and
says he is the one who made her like that.
- Helmer blames the mother for corrupting her kids, yet in every case
of bad habits being passed down into the kids, it’s the fathers fault.
Throughout the play, Nora’s dress for the Tarantella is being sewn and
mended. Nora’s Tarantella dress was torn and ruined, perhaps foreshadowing
the way her false happiness is torn down and her marriage ends up ruined after
the dance inevitably comes to an end. The way Mrs. Linde sews up the dress is
a reflection of how Mrs. Linde’s choice to not let Krogstad retrieve the
incriminating letter actually leads to Nora’s revelation at the end of the play.
The dress is also showing how Helmer treats Nora like a doll, dressed up and
pretty, ready to be shown off and flaunted like a desirable object. Nora never
says anything about wanting to wear the dress or perform the Tarantella
herself. The way Helmer dresses her up and makes her dance shows the value
he places on appearances.
Mrs. Linde is often shown sewing in the story, reflecting her role as the perfect
woman in the story. Activities such as sewing, mending, and embroidery were
all typical expectancies of a woman, and Mrs. Linde accepts this role and
embraces it, performing the activity without complaint. This later is shown in
 ACT II
Mrs. Linde: (dropping her sewing). But, my dearest
Nora, how do you know anything about such
things?
Nora: (walking about). Pooh! When you have three
children, you get visits now and then from—from
married women, who know something of medical
matters, and they talk about one thing and another.
Mrs. Linde :(goes on sewing. A short silence). Does
Doctor Rank come here everyday? (36).
ACT II
Nora: (going nearer to her). Christine! (Listens.)
Hush! There’s Torvald come home. Do you mind
going in to the children for the present? Torvald
can’t bear to see dressmaking going on. Let Anne
help you. (38)
ACT III
Helmer: Do you know, you ought to embroider.
Mrs. Linde Really? Why?
Helmer: Yes, it’s far more becoming. Let me show
you. You hold the embroidery thus in your left
hand, and use the needle with the right—like
this—with a long, easy sweep. Do you see?
ACT III
Helmer: But in the case of knitting—that can never
be anything but ungraceful; look here—the arms
close together, the knitting-needles going up and
down—it has a sort of Chinese effect—. That was
really excellent champagne they gave us. (Ibsen
64).
Money, finances, Helmer Nora: “Just now,” [Puts the bag of macaroons into
loans Krogstad her pocket and wipes her mouth.] “Come in here,
Nora Torvald, and see what I have bought.”
Helmer: “Don’t disturb me,” [A little later, he opens
her desire to be a mother and wife to Krogstad and his children. This furthers
the contrast between Nora’s rebellious manner when Torvald takes her away
from the dance and the way Nora splits from Torvald in the end and Mrs.
Linde’s desire to conform to expectations. The fact that Mrs. Linde sews by
choice is another aspect of feminist theory, showing how she makes her own
decision to sew, and isn’t forced to do so. She chooses to conform to society’s
expectations on how a woman should act.
Helmer’s distaste for dressmaking, sewing, and knitting shows his dislike of
women performing practical, useful activities that serve a purpose. His
comment to Mrs. Linde in the fourth quote also shows his distaste, with him
telling Mrs. Linde that embroidery is usually a solely decorative activity that is
more appropriate for a woman. Helmer’s belief that women should serve only
decorative purposes was shown even before this quote, when Helmer makes
Nora dress up and dance the Tarantella.
Helmer’s statement in the fifth quote shows that he doesn’t think of
needlework as a graceful or a productive hobby because he thinks a wife is
only good for showing her off to the public. He believes that she is just a
decorative item that is only responsible to appear beautiful at all times. These
ways of thinking demonstrate how Helmer and Nora's marriage is only
superficial and later foreshadows Nora leaving her family to find her own
independence.
The motif of money plays a significant role in each relationship. Women had
to take advantage of mens lust and need to control in order to provide for
themselves and their families. That’s why Linde married someone she didn’t
love to support her family and she thought Dr. Rank was the one giving Nora
the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.]
“Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my
little spendthrift been wasting money again?”
(Ibsen 4).
Mrs. Linde: “My mother was alive then, and was
bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my
two younger brothers; so I did not think I was
justified in refusing his offer” (Ibsen 12).
Krogstad: “I Krogstad will tell you. I want to
rehabilitate myself, Mrs. Helmer; I want to get on;
and in that your husband must help me. For the last
year and a half I have not had a hand in anything
dishonourable, amid all that time I have been
struggling in most restricted circumstances. I was
content to work my way up step by step. Now I am
turned out, and I am not going to be satisfied with
merely being taken into favour again. I want to get
on, I tell you. I want to get into the Bank again, in a
higher position. Your husband must make a place
for me—” (Ibsen 50-51).
Rank: “Yes, he has some sort of appointment
there,” [To Mrs Linde.] “I don’t know whether you
find also in your part of the world that there are
certain people who go zealously snuffing about to
smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they
have found some, put the person concerned into
some lucrative position where they can keep their
eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold”
(Ibsen 19).
money seeing how nice he was to her. Helmer is not concerned with Nora as
much as where his money goes when he chooses to give her any. The motif of
money concerning the relationship between men and women specifically
revolves around the giving and taking of ecch others identity. Men are
expected to provide and work no matter how much their job actually improves
their life. Women are expected to be complacent and nurturing in order to
receive money or care.
It is an obviously recognized symbol of wealth, as it contributes to the
repetition of esteem and the necessity for reputation. Global issues wise, it is
the sole resource of how one is recognized within the story’s society. The
upperclassmen often retain high-standing professions, such as official
positions within a bank or a business owner of some sort, and money
essentially serves as the definition of that person’s essence. It determines the
behavior, treatment, and well-being rather than the character or personality of
their mind. This universe, specifically within A Doll’s House and spanning
around the judgment of the time period, revolves around the topic of money,
whether how it can be spent, how it could be gained, or how it could be
flaunted to the public.
Krogstad does not care for Nora or her feelings, but he cares about his
position. In capitalism, competition and isolation are upheld by giving good
and well-paid jobs. In Krogstad’s case, he does not care for Nora, but his
position. In other words, he isolates himself and his morality and
professionalism, going to the blackmail to keep his job. In many jobs within
this society, a lack of morals tend to pay better than having what some people
call “a soft heart”. In banking, it is easy to see that this can be the same.
Rather than extending a helping hand to a family in need, a bank needs to be
cold to earn the money it so greatly covers.
Dr Rank criticizes the capitalist hierarchy by explaining that people without
morality are often put in a high position because they need to be kept in check.
Without this, they would most likely be out for blood from their bosses and
their coworkers. In this, Ibsen criticizes capitalism because he’s saying that
people who are good people and who are most likely to spend this money are
left in the cold. The people who don’t have a limitation to morality, making
them a good worker, will be placed in a high position to be kept in check and,
because laws of morality do not bind them, they are a good worker.
It is the bane of judgment, deriving how relationships form and the biased

Macaroons Nora & Helmer HELMER: Not even taken a bite at a macaroon or
two?
NORA: no Torvald I assure you really--
HELMER: There, there, of course I was only
joking.
NORA: I should not think of going against your
wishes (Ibsen 7).
When Rank tells Nora and Linde that he thought
macaroons werewere forbidden, Nora does not
seem to care because she gives one to Rank and
tells Linde, “You must have one too, Christine. And
I shall have one” (17).
Helmer: Hullo!-- Are we going to have a banquet
until the small hours. And a few macaroons,
Helen-- lots, just for once! (Ibsen 47).
Children and Nora, Maid, Helmer: “Just think how a guilty man like that has
their function Krogstad, children to lie and play hypocrite with everyone, how he has
to wear a mask in the presence of those near and
dear to him, even before his own wife and children”
(27).
Helmer: “Almost everyone who has gone to the bad
early in life has had a deceitful mother” (27).
Nora: “I couldn’t let my children be shabbily
understanding of perfection and immaculacy of life. In that sense, it is
double-sided as a symbol, either having the potential to mask the truth or
serving as the painful truth one must have to conceal. There lies a complex
dynamity of dependency and independency, granted that money must rely on
its users for the social standard of professionalism to be expanded upon but it
can serve by itself to be enough to demand social identity and character.
Act 1:The motif of the macaroons and the way that Helmer forbids his wife to
eat such sweets is a significant detail to their relationship because it shows the
toxic nature of men’s, or in this case Torvald’s, needs to be superior to Nora in
everything. When Nora eats the macaroons secretly, it demonstrates woman’s
resistance to the commands of man; this first signifies the distrust that Nora
has, and how she acted like a doll in following the doll master’s demands. This
character development serves to further the relationship between Nora and
Torvald and how she must pleasure herself secretly because of Torvald’s
controlling nature. This quote shows the limitations imposed on Nora because
Torvald does not allow her to eat any treats. This illustrates how most of the
power in a relationship is given to the man. The Purpose of the macaroons was
to denote the dynamics of women’s and men’s relationship.
Act 2: In Act 2, Nora is seen talking about macaroons and how she wants to
have a lot of them at the banquet which displays the character development of
Nora and how she has become more independent and is breaking out of this
doll character. In Act 1, Nora could not dare eat macaroons in front of Torvald
and how she had lied that she did not eat any. However, in Act 2 Nora is seen
talking more freely about consuming macaroons which illustrates how she has
now become liberated than before.
Act 3: Ultimately, the reader is able to foreshadow the conclusion of Nora
wanting to rebel or get out of such a toxic environment.
Act 1: Nora does not spend much time with her children as she leaves them
with the nurse and focuses more on herself. It is shown that Nora must have
her children presentable. Meanwhile, Helmer is being ironic because he
displays that mothers have the most influence on their children and Nora is
doing exactly what he feared and this ultimately leads to the third act when he
does not think she is a suitable mother to his children.
Act 2: Krogstad shows that he must earn back his honor for his children’s sake
as well as his own. He understands that he is setting an example to his children
and that will heavily affect their future. Helmer also believes that it is a
 dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me
for them, the sweet little darlings!” (14).
Helmer: “Are they not your duties to your husband
and your children?” (64).
Nora: “I have other duties just as sacred” (64).
Krogstad: ““My sons are growing up; for their sake
I must try and win back as much respect as I can in
the town” (22).
The Tarantella Torvald & Nora Helmer:“My dear darling Nora, you are dancing as
Dance if your life depended on it” (46).
Nora: “Torvald dear; criticise me, and correct me as
you play” (46).
Nora: “Five o’clock. Seven hours until midnight;
and then four-and-twenty hours until the next
midnight. Then the tarantella will be over…
Thirty-one hours to live” (47)
Helmer: “All this evening I have longed for
nothing but you. When I watched the seductive
figures of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire;
mother’s duty to take care of her children and that when he leaves the house is
only suitable for her. She ends up realizing that she is worth so much more and
that she also has duties to herself.
Act 3: Nora ultimately decides to leave her life with Helmer and her children
leaving them in the care of the maid and Torvald. This means that the children
will be raised the same way Nora was, in the hands of her father and the maid.
This cycle illustrates how children are born into their positions and are trapped
like those who raise them.
The children rarely have scenes where they interact with their parents, and the
play mainly focuses on the adults. They are mostly an afterthought and are not
the main priorities of the parents, often suffering from negligence. The adults
are more concerned with themselves and often blame their parents for passing
down their faults, mindlessly doing the same to their own children. In fact,
they are more of a burden to the parents, and an unwanted responsibility,
rather than kids to love and genuinely care for. The parents assume that having
money and a stable job is the way to provide for them, which is true, however
the adults fail to realize that spending quality time with them and being around
is more important than their money. The children can be viewed as currency
as well, since they are being exchanged for their parents social status and
reputation.
The Helmer’s perverted fantasy of Nora illustrates the patriarchal
relationship between man and women, as Nora is completely
objectified by her husband, stripping her of her human work.
Through the lens of society, women are only perceived as meek
objects--utilized however one pleases--which deprives women of their
individuality.
His fantasy is very predatorial, but to the Helmer himself, it is simply
an extension of his ownership over his property: Nora.
This characterization as him being the controller testifies to the theme.
The Tarantella symbolizes his lust for Nora, illustrating to readers the
objectification of women and the loss of their individuality. This is
I could endure it no longer, and that was why I further supported by the fact that he teaches her how to dance,
brought you down so early—” (Ibsen 3.65-66) instructing her in his manner, as if to relegate her to his definition.

It is also important to note that Nora anxiously practiced her dancing as

if to appear perfect to her husband. She associates the dance with life,
symbolizing, once again, how her existence is tied to pleasing her
husband. This reflects the one-sided gender dynamics of the Victorian
age.