"The Night of the Iguana"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how "Night of the Iguana" is a tale about real characters with quirks and mental problems, such as Maxine, the brash hotel owner and Shannon, the partly deranged tour director. Specifically, the paper analyzes the underlying themes that are brought out by Tennessee Williams such as the playwright's beliefs about humanity, morality, cruelty and evil in the world and what the drama says about redemption and healing. It discusses how "The Night of the Iguana" is more than a play about sex and healing, it is a play about a man who cannot find himself and so allows others to run rampant over his life.

From the Paper:

"Maxine may be the sanest character in the play, but again, she is not the most moral person. She does not miss her late husband mostly because they had not had sex in years. She wants Shannon to stay with her, and she will even give up her Mexican consorts who have been keeping her busy at night. However, she is the character who really understands everyone around her, and she is the character that can rope in Shannon, while the others cannot. She tells Shannon quite sagely, "MAXINE: "We've both reached a point where we've got to settle for something that works for us in our lives " even if it isn't on the highest kind of level." She understands herself, which is more than most of the other characters do, and so she is a leader, not a follower. She may be immoral, but she is humane, which also sets her apart from the other characters. She may indeed want to get Shannon in that "tied-up situation," but she does it so well that he knows he is tied up, but simply has no other options."

More papers on "The Night of the Iguana":

• Argumentative Essay # 6528 : "Theories and Constants - A New Dawning in the Politics of the World"
• Analytical Essay # 27121 : "The Trajectory of the Novel: 1719-1960"
• Analytical Essay # 123917 : "Symbolism, Imagery and Tennessee Williams"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: