Abstract
The work analyses the connections between the famous Tarantella of a A Doll’s House and the phenomenon of Tarantism.
Starting from the recent finding of the treatise of Bergosøe, friend and travelling companion of Ibsen in Italy, it is possible to try to understand in which way Nora’s dance can be related to Bergsøe’s informations and ideas about Tarantism.
The most significant interpretations and the last and original contributions of some of the many scholars who are interested in the topic have been taken in consideration.
By collecting many literary sources first on the dance of Tarantella and then on the phenomenon of Tarantism, the study tries to highlight the meanings of the specific dramatic moment of the play.
The investigation about Tarantism has been based mainly on the famous work of Ernesto De Martino, Italian anthropologist of the last century.
The dynamics of suffering and fighting of the painful story of the women affected by Tarantism seem to have something in common with Nora’s life and they help, therefore, to understand better her character.
The analysis of this meaningful point wants to deepen the meaning of the whole play. The isolated and oppressed world of the female sufferers of Tarantism, with its annual rite of music, dance and colours (until the cultural horizon on which it was based went in crisis) offers many symbolical hints to the Helmer’s private rite, put in crisis by the overhanging change of the society.