The iguana

In "Night of the Iguana," the lizard represents both the life force, or animalistic freedom, as well as imprisonment. The iguana then is a symbol for all humans who must somehow balance their need for freedom with their need for attachment, as in love relationships. In the play, the iguana becomes a creature for compassion and pity through which the playwright suggests that we humans can find some degree of peace even as we move through the constraints of society to find and nurture our true natures. The iguana also can symbolize the creative urge of the artist for expression against the norms and mores of conventional society. As a homosexual artist, Williams could understand and identify with the plight of the captive iguana.

The glass menagerie

Laura Wingfield's collection of delicate glass figurines symbolize her own spiritual and emotional fragility. As her domineering mother...