The Night of the Iguana

In a sense, the play begins and ends with death. At the start of Act I, Shannon learns that Fred, Maxine’s husband, has very recently died, and in the last moments of the play, Nonno dies shortly after finishing his final poem. However, these two deaths, are very different. Fred’s death is a freak occurrence caused by a wayward cut from a fishing hook and a resulting deadly infection. Nonno, on the other hand, manages to tie up his life into a neat bow, completing what he correctly expects to be his last poem and delivering it to his granddaughter before drifting peacefully away in his sleep. While Nonno is implied to choose the moment of his death, Fred’s unexpected death leaves a conspicuous hole in Maxine’s life despite her affected indifference. Maxine’s recent loss also reveals her real objection to allowing Hannah and Nonno to stay, for she is less concerned with their lack of funds than she is with her understanding that Nonno is very near death. She sees his advanced age as a liability and even his name, Jonathan Coffin, blatantly indicates his association with death. With their art and poetry, Hannah and Nonno act as pointed reminders of the aspects of humanity that are cultivated beyond the primitive—not only the fine arts, but the level of civilization required to keep a man alive to age 97.