48 pages 1 hour read

Tennessee Williams

The Night of the Iguana

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1961

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Act I

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Act I Summary

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of sexual misconduct and statutory rape.

The play is set in the summer of 1940 at the Costa Verde, a rustic beachside hotel in coastal Mexico. The owner, Mrs. Maxine Faulk, is in her mid-40s. She enters with her Mexican employee, Pedro, who is in his early 20s. Both are rebuttoning their clothes after a tryst. A tour bus has arrived, and Maxine happily greets its guide, Lawrence Shannon, who is a regular guest at the hotel. As he makes his way up the jungle-covered hill, Maxine sends Pedro and another worker, Pancho, to carry his bags. Shannon has a high fever and calls several times for Maxine’s husband, Fred, but Maxine casually reveals that Fred died suddenly two weeks ago from a blood infection caused by a minor cut. Seemingly unbothered by her husband’s death, Maxine comments that Fred was older and their sex life had waned. Maxine invites Shannon to relax in the hammock and drink a rum-coco, but Shannon will only accept a beer. From the base of the hill, Shannon’s touring guests, an all-women group of Baptist teachers from Texas, are furiously honking the horn.

Related Titles

By Tennessee Williams

Study Guide

logo

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams

Plot Summary

logo

Orpheus Descending

Tennessee Williams

Orpheus Descending

Tennessee Williams

Study Guide

logo

Suddenly, Last Summer

Tennessee Williams

Suddenly, Last Summer

Tennessee Williams

Plot Summary

logo

Sweet Bird of Youth

Tennessee Williams

Sweet Bird of Youth

Tennessee Williams

Plot Summary

logo

The Rose Tattoo

Tennessee Williams

The Rose Tattoo

Tennessee Williams