children do seem to foreshadow her future absence from their lives, though it will be because she willfully abandons her family to find herself rather than that she gets sent to jail. She does ask Anna "how could you make up your mind to [leave your children]?" This may, then, foreshadow her contemplation of the same action. Perhaps she would choose to run rather than be convicted of forgery.

The conversation between Nora and Nurse Anne in the opening of Act 2 definitely foreshadows Nora's thoughts of either contemplating suicide or abandoning her family; however, at this point, we don't fully know which she is going to do.

We first see the foreshadowing that something terrible beyond being blackmailed is about to happen when Nurse warns Nora that if she goes out again in the horrible weather, she could catch cold, and Nora replies, "Well, worse than that might happen" (II). Next, we see it foreshadowed that Nora will soon no longer be with her children when she explains to Nurse Anne, "I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I was before" (II). We see the idea that Nora will abandon her children when Nora asks Nurse Anne if her children would forget Nora if she "went away altogether" (II).

Later in the Act, when Krogstad comes to speak with Nora, we see it foreshadowed in this conversation that Nora has not only contemplated running away from home, but doing something much worse, which appears to be suicide.

In Act II of A Doll's House, Nora has a conversation with her nursemaid, Anne Marie, in which the two discuss the nursemaid's history with Nora. 

We learn that Nora was raised by Anne Marie. Moreover, she has remained with Nora, even after the latter's marriage, and is now taking care of Nora's children. 

Nora has a great deal of affection for Anne Marie. She also appreciates the work that the now-elderly woman has done for Nora's kids. 

Yet, the conversation takes an interesting turn when Anne reminds Nora that she (Anne) was once a “girl in trouble,” and that the man who got her pregnant did nothing for her. Nora is sad to learn that the woman’s daughter has never forgiven her mother for having raised her out of wedlock.

To this, Nora responds by reminding Anne how kind and loving she has always been toward Nora’s family, and that Anne has a lot of motherly traits, regardless of what had happened in her life. Nora also adds,

Nora. And if my little ones had no other mother, I am sure you would--What nonsense I am talking![Opens the box.] Go in to them. Now I must--. You will see tomorrow how charming I shall look.

Basically, Nora is saying that, if her children ever were to be without a mother, Anne would also care for them. However, Nora stops herself from thinking that way and shifts the conversation toward the topic of the ball. The foreshadowing is that of Nora’s children being without a mother.  We will learn, as the play goes on, that this is exactly what will happen.

Nora will leave the household, including her children, after experiencing the utter disappointment of Torvald’s reaction after learning that Nora had made a money transaction with Krogstad; a shady and vindictive employee that Torvald despises.  These types of transactions were considered inappropriate for women to make, especially with a man other than her husband. Moreover, this particular man was one of her husband’s worst employees, and one who personally dislikes and disrespects Torvald, as it is.

Rather than asking the rationale behind this transaction, which was one of personal sacrifice from Nora’s part, Torvald reacts uncontrollably. He is cruel, mean, and insulting to his wife. This is nothing remotely close to the reaction that Nora had always expected of her husband.

Nora hoped that Torvald would understand why she had to make such a deal with Krogstad in the first place. She also wished that  Torvald would be willing to take the blame for whatever went Nora’s way. She really yearned that Torvald would show his love this way. 

Then, a twist happens. Torvald receives a second letter from Krogstad in which the latter makes a truce and tells them that he will not blackmail anybody. However, the deed had been done.  It was too late to revert the ugly impression that Torvald’s original response had caused in his wife.  Disappointed and deflated, Nora finally sees the reality of her life:  She was her husband’s plaything, she has never been valued or appreciated in her marriage, and all her sacrifices have been worth nothing. She has never found herself, and she knows that this is the time to do it.

When she left her home, she also left her children motherless. This is the scary thought she foreshadows during her conversation with Anne. Sadly, it will become a reality in Nora’s life.

It's sometimes difficult to determine the difference between an incident in a play that represents foreshadowing (as definitively reflecting later plot developments in the play) and an incident that simply represents a character trait or that character's development within the play.

Nora's purchase of macaroons in act 1 of Henrik Ibsen's A Dolls House is often cited as foreshadowing Nora's subsequent rebellion against what she comes to perceive as her husband Torvald's repression of her, and this act is seen to foreshadow Nora's ultimate decision to leave Torvald and their children.

Initially, this act seems to be merely representative of Nora's impulsive nature and her juvenile behavior—the lenses through which Torvald views her. Torvald calls Nora "Miss Sweet Tooth" and lightly chides her for "nibbling sweets." In chiding her, he specifically calls out her predilection for macaroons, indicating that her eating them is a regular occurrence.

Thus, Torvald's and Nora's exchange about the macaroons might be more revealing of their individual characters and their present relationship (as a frame of reference for their respective character developments) rather than as an incident foreshadowing the impending demise of their entire relationship.

However, while Nora's purchase of the macaroons could be considered to be a mere impulse, and even if she doesn't go shopping for the express purpose of buying macaroons in order to defy Torvald, the recurring nature of this small act of defiance is Nora's way of defying the restrictions that Torvald places on her. Rather than being indicative of her childish or impulsive nature (as he sees it), eating macaroons therefore becomes a small act of defiance which can be seen as a precursor to the larger acts of defiance that she commits in her restrictive marriage.

Nora's decision to leave her home, her husband, and her children has been a long time in the making, and it's Torvald's selfish, unfeeling reaction to her great act of defiance (in attaining a loan, for which Nora forged her father's signature) that finally brings about their relationship's undoing. After eight years of marriage and eight years of being Torvald's "little skylark," "little squirrel," "little singing bird," and "pretty little pet," Nora decides to change her life and the lives of everyone around her:

NORA: Torvald—it was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a stranger, and had borne him three children. (act 3)

Nora's decision to leave her husband and children might be a fairly recent one, it was not impulsive or whimsical. While buying and eating the macaroons can be seen as impulsive and whimsical acts, it is the recurring nature of her disobedience which lays the groundwork for Nora eventually realizing that she is utterly dissatisfied with the restrictive dynamic of her marriage, foreshadowing the conclusion of the play.

Foreshadowing is a literary device where the author of a text drops small clues that hint toward coming events in the plot. With foreshadowing, an author can steer a reader’s expectations and prepare them for upcoming scenes. In Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House,” there are numerous examples of foreshadowing.

Perhaps the most glaring and early example of foreshadowing in A Doll’s House is Nora’s lie in the opening scene regarding a seemingly innocuous dessert: macaroons. Torvald Helmer asks his wife, "Hasn't Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? […] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?" Nora innocently replies, “No, Torvald.” The audience knows that she has been indulging in macaroons and this lie foreshadows her eventual all-out rebellion against her husband.

A second detail that foreshadows Nora’s departure is her conversation with the nurse in Act 2. Speaking of her children, Nora says, “Yes, but, nurse, I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I was before.” This is a small, but clear hint that Nora will leave Helmer by the end of the play.

A final, albeit a more minor example of foreshadowing, is when Dr. Rank tells Helmer that he will be “invisible” at the next masquerade, obliquely referring to his own death. He tells his friend, “There's a big black hat—haven't you heard of the invisible hat? It comes down all over you, and then no one can see you.” Despite the hint, Helmer is as oblivious to Rank’s impending death as he is to his wife’s looming departure. I hope this helps!

Ibsen employs foreshadowing when Nora and Torvald Helmer speak together at the beginning of act 1. Torvald seems to rather playfully lament his wife's habit of spending money hand over fist, but he says, eventually, "Still, one must take you as you are. It is in the blood; for indeed it is true that you can inherit these things, Nora." It is as though Torvald must coach himself, reminding himself that there are certain things that Nora cannot help: certain traits she may have inherited from her father. It seems that her father was not good with money and may have been somewhat unscrupulous in his acquisition of it. Nora, on the other hand, eventually proves herself to be quite good with money, though she went against her husband's wishes (and the law) when she took out a loan from Krogstad and forged her father's signature on the contract. Though she did this for Torvald's heath, to pay for a trip to warmer climes where he might convalesce—even saving his life, in the end—Torvald is unable to "take her for who she is," and he calls her names and berates her for ruining his life.

Around this same time, Torvald also tells Nora, "I would not wish you to be anything but just what you are, my sweet little skylark." However, he suspects that she has not been honest with him about eating sweets: something he has forbidden her to do. His line, combined with his doubt of her, foreshadows the fact that he absolutely will wish for her to be other than she is soon enough. Later, when he finds out what she has done, he is astonished to find that his cheerfully obedient wife has actually been deceiving him—though her intentions were very good —for years. Even Nora's willful macaroon deception (eating them in secret and then lying about it) foreshadows her much larger financial deception, which is revealed later on.

A Doll's House is one of Ibsen best-known and well-received plays—though this was not the case when it was first presented on stage. However, it wasn't long before the demand to see the play increased throughout Europe. And although Ibsen insisted this was not a play written about women's rights, but about human rights, as with any piece of art, it took on a life of its own when released to the world.

Foreshadowing is when the author provides information as to what is going to happen later in the story (or play), but it is generally not recognized until the event takes place.

An example of foreshadowing can be found at the beginning of the play, when Nora has been shopping. Torvald says she should be careful in spending. As a father would instruct a child, he reminds her that if he borrows to pay for things and something happens to him, what would happen to the person he had borrowed from? Nora explains that she wouldn't care about that person.

NORA:

If anything so awful happened, then it just wouldn't matter if I had debts or not.

TORVALD:

Well, but the people I'd borrowed from?

NORA:

Them? Who cares about them? They're strangers.

This foreshadows Nora's debt with Krogstad, a semi-shady man that she borrowed money from when Torvald was ill and could only be saved by moving to a warmer climate. She forged an I.O.U. with her father's signature. (Women were not allowed to borrow money.) While she has no regard for Krogstad, his threats will soon pressure Nora and cause her to re-evaluate her marriage and her life.

Another example of foreshadowing is found very soon after, as Torvald, acts as if borrowing money is a sin:

TORVALD:

Nora, Nora, how like a woman!...No debts! Never borrow! Something of freedom's lost—and something of beauty, too—from a home that's founded on borrowing and debt.

This foreshadows Torvald's initial response when he learns that Nora took a loan from Krogstad. He does not care that it saved his life. He hates Krogstad and first worries about being in debt to him. He is also concerned about his reputation—if word gets out. He has no appreciation for Nora's actions, but treats her like filth. He refuses to let her care for the children anymore—until he learns that Krogstad has returned the I.O.U., with no further plans to pursue the matter.

Lastly, Nora speaks of the miracle she expects to occur when it comes out that she borrowed the money, as Krogstad has threatened to expose her for her forgery. She believes that her husband will be noble and sacrifice himself to save her—though she will not allow such a thing. She is actually ready to take her own life rather than let Torvald shoulder any of the blame. It seems that he might when he says:

...time and again I've wished you were in some terrible danger, just so I could stake my life and soul and everything, for your sake.

However, when the time comes for Torvald to do just that, he fails Nora when she needs him most. The miracle is not what Nora expected. The miracle is that she finally sees Torvald for who he is:

NORA:

I've loved you more than all this world...

TORVALD:

...You stay there and give me a reckoning. You understand what you've done?...

NORA:

Yes. I'm beginning to understand everything now.

What she understands is that she has been living a lie, loving a man who has no capacity to appreciate her as a person, or love her as a man should love his wife—not treating her like a child, but as a partner; appreciating her sacrifices for him.

If we want to find a great example of foreshadowing in A Doll's House, we need look no further than the play's opening scene. Here, Torvald patronizingly teases Nora, inquiring whether his "Miss Sweet Tooth" hasn't eaten a macaroon or two. Nora lies, telling him that she hasn't. This seemingly innocent episode foreshadows the subsequent revelation of much more serious lies later on, namely Nora's forging of her late father's signature on a loan application. Nora's defiance in eating the macaroons also foreshadows her eventual rebellion, when she will slam the door on Torvald and leave him.

Later on, Dr. Rank tells Helmer that he will be invisible at the forthcoming masquerade. Unbeknownst to Helmer, Rank is terminally ill, so Helmer doesn't realize that when the good doctor refers to his invisibility at the masquerade, he's actually talking about this imminent death. This is another example of foreshadowing, albeit a much more subtle one than Nora's illicit munching of macaroons.