The tarantella dance takes its name from a very harmful spider, whose poisonous bite was once believed to cause an uncontrollable urge to dance wildly. The only way to be relieved of this problem is for those who are forced to dance until they are completely exhausted. The current belief that the cause of this often hysterical behavior was not the spider bite but the repressed morals of that time period. The only outlet for wild self-expression was the Tarantella. In this sense it is significant that Torvald tells Nora to practice the tarantella while he locks himself in his office to make all the noise he wants. She convinces him to watch her practice the dance in an attempt to prevent him from finding Krogstad's letter in the mailbox. He tries to control his madness in the way he dances with the requests and comments he makes, but she ignores his words and continues dancing, until her hair finally comes down. With this dance it can be deduced that she is dancing to have some freedom for a change and that she is not actually poisoned. Depending on one's interpretation of this symbolism, the poison could be the threat posed by Krogstad's revealing letter, or the poison of oppression and control that characterizes Helmer's marriage. Like macaroons, this beautiful and wild dance allows the audience to see a side of Nora that she is unable to show in one