ust as it is hard to understand 19th-Century England without reading Charles Dickens, it is pretty challenging to have an idea of 20th-Century America if a reader bypasses three of its best playwrights: Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. One can argue endlessly about who is the best; but for now, let’s focus on Tennessee Williams.

Though his early plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof won greater critical acclaim, his play The Night of the Iguana elicited mixed reactions. All three came out pretty well on screen but Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman was perhaps the best filmed. I would place A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh on the second perch, and The Night of the Iguana starring Ava Gardner and Richard Burton on the third. But it is the last that interests me the most here and now.

Great literature and creative arts transcend the boundaries of time and space. Tennessee Williams was one such writer whose characters and themes have endured the test of time. They appeared to be as relevant in America or Mexico in the mid-20th Century as they are in today’s India or Pakistan. Call them the lands of iguanas, if you like. Williams uses iguanas to symbolise multiple ideas and things, most of all the human spirit. When we read or watch the play, or see the film based on it, we find iguanas tied up by social forces.

There are, of course, certain differences between the script of the play and the screenplay of the film, but they tend to complement each other. The play is set in a decrepit hotel in a coastal resort in Mexico; the film takes you around, as the medium of cinema afforded director John Huston an opportunity to play with cameras and locations. The play begins with a priest of sorts leading a group of mostly elderly and unwilling American women to that seaside hotel where an iguana is tied up, and constantly straining against the ropes.

The film’s opening shot revolves around Richard Burton – the priest – who is delivering a sermon at his church. The priest represents an entire clergy that is disoriented and doesn’t fully understand what the sermon is about. The priest doubts his own beliefs and convictions but displays an air of confidence. As the sermon progresses, the priest comes under stress and starts babbling. His doubts intensify and he can no longer concentrate; the believers are bewildered when the priest shouts and spews angry remarks that a clergyman should not utter.

“I will not and cannot continue to conduct services in praise and worship of this angry, petulant old man in whom you believe. You have turned your backs on the gods of love and compassion and invented for yourselves this cruel, senile, delinquent who blames the world and all that He created for His own faults! Close your windows. Close your doors! Close your hearts!”

Of course, the priest loses his job at the church; refuses to acknowledge it and pretends that he is still a reverend. He is full of suppressed desires. He finds a job as a tour guide to take excursions to Mexico. This symbolises a desire of the clergy to continue to pose as guides. While Tennessee Williams has established the priest as a babbling and confused guide, the play introduces a group of elderly tourists and just one young girl.

A controlling old lady in the group serves as the chaperon to the nymph, tries to be the master of the tour and bullies even the priest. She personifies an old establishment that keeps a close eye on everything and everyone. Acting as a motherly figure, she is actually a villain who cannot tolerate independent actions and think of those she is pretending to be master of. She is the old guard and killjoy of the people especially young ones; an old guard of traditions and dying values. She is obsolete but tries to dictate the direction.

While travelling in a ramshackle bus through the streets of a Mexican rural town they observe captured iguanas that local people want to sell to foreigners. These iguanas – read human spirit – are held high in the hands of local sellers who will bargain for a decent price. The ubiquitous iguanas are tightly held and the locals can slaughter them to serves as a delicacy to foreigners. When they see a free iguana, a rush ensues to capture it with a net or noose. The land of the iguanas is full of the human spirit, ready to be caught and cut to pieces.

The old guard and the priest vie for the control of the rickety bus, which symbolises a country such as Pakistan – or any other land of the iguanas where the human spirit is aplenty but constantly under threat. The priest – call it clergy at large – defies the old guard and assumes charge of the steering wheel. He changes the direction of the bus and drives it recklessly to a place nobody wanted to go. Just because the rundown hotel offers solace to the priest, he leads the bus — and the old guard in it — to a dead end.

The owner of the hotel is a middle-aged widow who runs the hotel and sleeps around with local cabana boys. She represents a business class which also has tied up iguanas to entertain guests. The iguanas are fed but fettered. The businesswoman entices the priest to her own advantage. Now the businesswoman, the old guard, and the priest are engaged in a battle of wits. Such battles we see in many lands of iguanas including Pakistan where they are on a short leash without much room to manoeuvre. The human spirit is chained.

Here come the most interesting couple of characters: an artist and a poet, who is her grandfather. They are the redeemers of the situation. Art and poetry are potent forces that have the ability to change the dynamics of an otherwise hopeless situation. They move from place to place and try to entertain people with their art and poetry. They are no great stars but do have some capacity to absorb the agonies of the tormented. The old guard does not like them – she is more interested in controlling the youth and ensnaring the priest.

Neither does the businesswoman, who is more inclined towards the priest, who can help her in her business and provide some strength to the crumbling façade. The old guard decides to retreat to her barracks where she belongs. The priest once again babbles and brawls but ends up overpowered by the cabana boys. The priest’s cross gets entangled around his neck and he almost chokes to death. In the end it is the artist who untangles the locket. At one point, the priest says:

“A man has got just so much in his emotional bank balance. Mine has run out. It’s stone dry. I can’t draw a cheque on it. There is nothing to draw out.”

That is the clergy for you. The artist encourages the priest to release the iguana which is moaning and struggling to be free. When the iguana is free, the priest says, “I just cut loose one of God’s creatures at the end of the rope so that it could be free from panic, and scamper home safe and free. A little act of Grace.”

The artist has a connection with the past in the shape of her grandfather, the poet, who is dying. He recites his last poem and the artist moves on.

The writer is an educationist based in Islamabad. He can be reached at Mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk and tweets @NaazirMahmood