A Doll's House

by

Henrik Ibsen

Macaroons Symbol Icon
Torvald has banned Nora from eating macaroons. Although Nora claims that she never disobeys Torvald, this is proved false in the very opening of the play when Nora eats macaroons while she was alone in the living room. The macaroons come to represent Nora’s disobedience and deceit. She lies to Dr. Rank about having been given some by Mrs. Linde, and after giving a particularly tempestuous performance of the tarantella asks that macaroons be served at dinner, indicating a relationship between the macaroons and Nora’s inner passions, both of which she must hide within her marriage.

Macaroons Quotes in A Doll's House

The A Doll's House quotes below all refer to the symbol of Macaroons. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Marriage Theme Icon
).
Act One Quotes

I would never dream of doing anything you didn’t want me to.

Related Characters: Nora Helmer (speaker), Torvald Helmer
Related Symbols: Macaroons
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Doll's House LitChart as a printable PDF.
A Doll's House PDF

Macaroons Symbol Timeline in A Doll's House

The timeline below shows where the symbol Macaroons appears in A Doll's House. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act One
Love and Marriage Theme Icon
Gender Theme Icon
Deceit Theme Icon
Individual vs. Society Theme Icon
Nora offers Dr. Rank a macaroon. He says he thought they were forbidden in Nora’s house. Nora lies that Mrs. Linde... (full context)
Love and Marriage Theme Icon
Gender Theme Icon
Money and Work Theme Icon
Torvald enters and Nora quickly hides the macaroons. Nora asks if Torvald “got rid of” Krogstad, and Torvald replies that yes, Krogstad has... (full context)
Act Two
Love and Marriage Theme Icon
Gender Theme Icon
Deceit Theme Icon
...dinner is ready. Nora tells her that they’ll have champagne and asks for lots of macaroons. Torvald takes Nora’s hands and tells her not to be so wild and to be... (full context)