Symbolism In The Night Of The Iguana

The Night of the Iguana Symbolism

This movie is saturated with symbolism even if it sometimes made no sense. I found several symbols interesting and one of them was the rum-coco. It was a symbol for Maxine’s sexuality, especially towards Shannon. Throughout the movie, Maxine continuously offers Shannon a rum-coco when she’s attempting to calm/seduce him. At the end of the movie, it is Shannon offering Maxine the rum-coco as a form of acceptance and it is implied that they finally sleep together. The birds in the cage is an interesting symbol to me because it wasn’t an obvious symbol until it was pointed out. It supposedly appeared in the background when Maxine was complaining about her confinement
to the property. This symbol is especially funny because when a bird is trapped in a cage and wants out, it will annoyingly chirp and squawk. While Maxine was a compelling character, she was sometimes annoying like a bird trapped in a cage would be. Hannah is my favorite symbol of the movie, while she is a character that character is a symbol of wisdom and freedom. Without Hannah, Shannon would have never come to his senses and regained any form of sanity. She is the reason Shannon was freed and this is reinforced by the fact that she is indirectly the one who freed the captive iguana (a symbol for a bound Shannon and all restrained humanity). I still don’t know what to make of the maracas but I’m willing to accept that they are somehow related to sexuality. Maybe they are a symbol of the two maraca-playing-sex-servant-beach boys and their sexual ability and skill as maracas are actually hard to play in rhythm.