NO EXIT – Jean-Paul Sartre
BACKGROUND:
 1944
 French title = Huis Clos
o French equivalent of the legal term in camera
o referring to a private discussion behind closed doors
 published w/o Nazi awareness of Sartre’s involvement in the French Resistance
 1st performance = just prior to the Liberation of Paris
o Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier
o May 1944
 Nazi-Occupied Paris = setting of No Exit (hotel room in Hell)
o what it was like to live in Paris during that time
o freedom, self-deception, time after defeat, surrender, occupation
STRUCTURE:
 1 act
 1 scene
 4 characters
o The Valet
o Joseph Garcin
o Inèz Serrano
o Estelle Rigault
SYNOPSIS:
 SETTING = Hell, though not directly mentioned at first
o Hell = hotel
 3 people who can’t stand each but need each other are locked in a room for eternity
 torture each other
 explore their deaths, sins, reasons for damnation, needs/desires
 ends with realizations
o they = dead
o they = in Hell
o they = each other’s torturers (hell is other people)
NOTES:
 Valet leads Garcin into a hotel room in the Second Empire style
o (1852-1870) Neoclassical & Baroque models
ROOM:
 no –
o windows
o mirrors
o beds (no sleep)
o darkness (no off switch for lights)
o tears (can’t cry)
o hope
o …official torturer
 1 door
 Bell (works “capriciously”)
 3 couches
 Mantel, bronze mantelpiece
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NOTHING LEFT to CHANCE:
o each room in Hell is designed for the occupants
o 2nd empire = selected for Garcin (Ines, Estelle)
 Why???
get used to it, come to like it
“sense of human dignity”
o Valet calls Garcin’s holding on to human vanities
o “silly questions” asked by all guests
Garcin expresses his observations, distaste for the décor, expectations
o still thinks like a human
NO
 hell = physical torture
 torture chamber/devices
 “sense of human dignity”
 mirrors
 toothbrush
 windows
 bed/sleep
 beds
bronze statue by Barbedienne (an “atrocity”)
 sleep
Garcin’s position: drowning, eyes just above the water
 blinking
o ?don’t understand?
 crying
Valet’s eyelids don’t move
 darkness
o no darkness, no rest, no escape
 books
“But then – how shall I endure my own company?”
o Garcin @ not sleeping, blinking
o Hell = yourself, no escape from yourself, thoughts
 no exit
letter opener – “paper-knife”
o no use for it….until later
o **EVERYTHING = prop, perfectly set for this scene
o NOTHING LEFT to CHANCE:
o DEVIL = DIRECTOR
 set design
 everything thought out beforehand
 perfectly planned
 hell=theater, room=set/stage, devil=director/playwright
 action=mystery, wait to see how props, seemingly useless/without purpose, are used for a
purpose
 predestination, omniscience, see out-of-time
Garcin is joined by Inèz , then Estelle
Valet leaves, locks door
each expects to be physically tortured
G&I:
Inez: doesn’t play along with Valet
o doesn’t ask him “silly questions”
o asks Garcin @ Florence
o thinks Garcin is her torturer
 IRONY: he is, she is, Estelle is
Garcin: “I’d rather be alone.”
Inez starts picking (foreshadowing)
o insults Garcin’s face, he looks scared, stupid grin
o no mirrors  he accepts her reality, judgment
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 he allows her to define his Existence, Essence
False hope: think it’s still “before” b/c they haven’t begun to suffer
o Fear & Hope: no point in being afraid now, now that they’re damned
o when there was still hope, then they could be afraid
 now that the worst has happened, there’s no fear, no hope
Estelle:
o she too thinks Garcin = devil, torturer
o “We’ve got to take what comes to us.”
Inez Serrano: dead last week
Estelle Rigault: dead yesterday
exchange of sofas (Estelle the Diva)
VISION #1: Estelle of her funeral
o since she’s dead only a day
o no tears for her (best friend)
o no husband there
denial:
o each refuses to say they’re “dead,” in “hell”
o ego
probe each other’s deaths, funerals, sins, desires, and unpleasant memories
exchange how they died
o Estelle: pneumonia (from Paris)
o Inez: gas stove
o Garcin: shot 12x -- @ 1 month ago (from Rio)
Denial – Estelle won’t say “dead” so “absentees” & “absent”
VISION #2: Garcin @ wife
o her daily visit to see him at the barracks
o he’s behind bars
o she doesn’t know he’s dead yet
o she’s dressed in black – not for his funeral, but she won’t have to change
o “Oh, how she got on my nerves!”
Estelle the Diva – forces Garcin to keep his jacket on in the heat b/c she hates men in short sleeves
already getting on each other’s nerves, little tortures
o Inez about Garcin’s mouth, man-hating attitude
o I&G’s teasings about fear & hope, being afraid
o Estelle w/the sofas
o Estelle w/the shirt sleeves
VISION #3:
o Garcin @ the “Black Hole” that was his newspaper office, hanging w/the boys, in their shirt
sleeves, cigar smoke (boys being boys)
o Estelle @ Olga, friend, back home, at midnight
 TIME: “How quickly the time passes, on earth!”
Inez = lesbian
o “Oh, I don’t care much for men any way.”
o Hint #2 (#1 = that she’s not married, man-hating attitude)
Estelle @ Hell: thought she’d see friends & family there
NOTHING LEFT to CHANCE:
o Estelle thinks she’s there by mistake (denial @ damnation)
o Estelle = snob, and her parties w/friends who didn’t “do” anything
o Garcin thinks their grouping = “A pure fluke” grouped by the order they came in to hell, “the
order of their coming”
o Inez has it figured out: “As if they left anything to chance!”
o INEZ: Mere chance? Then it's by chance this room is furnished as we see it. It's an accident
that the sofa on the right is a livid green, and that one on the left's wine-red. Mere chance?
Well, just try to shift the sofas and you'll see the difference quick enough. And that statue
on the mantelpiece, do you think it's there by accident? And what about the heat here?
How about that? I tell you they've thought it all out. Down to the last detail. Nothing was
left to chance. This room was all set for us.
ESTELLE: But really! Everything here's so hideous; all in angles, so uncomfortable. I always
loathed angles.
INEZ: And do you think I lived in a Second Empire drawing-room?
ESTELLE: So it was all fixed up beforehand?
INEZ: Yes. And they've put us together deliberately.
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Inez = post-office clerk
Estelle: denial of her damnation
o it must be “some ghastly mistake”
Estelle BIO:
o grew up poor
o parents died young
o raised younger brother
o married man “old enough to be my father” ; “nearly three times my age” (gold digger)
o affair w/young man she “was fated to love”
principles:
o Garcin tries to play the “hero” – lying, self-aggrandizing
o is it “a crime to stand by one’s principles?”
 ran a pacifist newspaper
 war broke
 they shot him for standing by his principles
o claims he rescued his wife “from the gutter”
Inez: calls Estelle & Garcin on their “play-acting” – pity party
o Inez the pragmatist, realist –honest
 (yet w/ulterior motives)
 She gets it
 (I wonder why it’s she, of the 3, is there something in her character?)
o INEZ: Yes, I see. Look here! What' s the point of play-acting, trying to throw dust in each
other's eyes? We're all tarred with the same brush.
INEZ: Yes, we are criminals-- murderers-- all three of us. We're in hell, my pets; they never
make mistakes, and people aren't damned for nothing.
INEZ: In hell! Damned souls-- that's us, all three!
INEZ: A damned soul-- that's you, my little plaster saint. And ditto our friend there, the noble
pacifist. We've had our hour of pleasure, haven't we? There have been people who burned their
lives out for our sakes-- and we chuckled over it. So now we have to pay the reckoning.
INEZ: Well, well! Ah, I understand now. I know why they've put us three together.
INEZ: Wait! You'll see how simple it is. Childishly simple. Obviously there aren't any physical
torments-- you agree, don't you? And yet we're in hell. And no one else will come here. We'll
stay in this room together, the three of us, for ever and ever...In short, there's someone absent
here, the official torturer.
INEZ: It's obvious what they're after-- an economy of man-power-- or devil-power, if you
prefer. The same idea as in the cafeteria, where customers serve themselves.
INEZ: I mean that each of us will act as torturer of the two others.
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PLAN:
o all 3 = will remain silent, won’t torture each other
o stay committed to their respective “self-communings”
FALSE HOPE:
o thinks they can still be saved
o thinks they can beat this damnation thing
o esp. Garcin: “And that way we--we'll work out our salvation. Looking into ourselves, never
raising our heads. Agreed?”
long silence
Inez breaks it with singing
o song @ public executions
o (Garcin was shot by firing squad)
Estelle = putting on make-up
o make-up in hell!!!
o her “self-communing” = vanity, her exterior, not her soul
EXISTENCE:
o Estelle can’t exist w/o reflection (vanity)
o MIRROR
o : I feel so queer. Don't you ever get taken that way? When I can't see myself I begin to wonder
if I really and truly exist. I pat myself just to make sure, but it doesn't help much.
INEZ: You're lucky. I'm always conscious of myself-- in my mind. Painfully conscious.
ESTELLE: Ah yes, in your mind. But everything that goes on in one's head is so vague, isn't it?
It makes one want to sleep. I've six big mirrors in my bedroom. There they are. I can see them.
But they don't see me. They're reflecting the carpet, the settee, the window-- but how empty it is,
a glass in which I'm absent! When I talked to people I always made sure there was one nearby in
which I could see myself. I watched myself talking. And somehow it kept me alert, seeing
myself as the others saw me...Oh dear! My lipstick! I'm sure I've put it on all crooked. No, I can't
do without a looking-glass for ever and ever. I simply can't.
 image precedes existence
 not “I think therefore I am” but “I see myself therefore I am”
 her vanity = her own Hell
 her vanity = open door for Inez
Inez tries to seduce Estelle:
o to be her MIRROR
o Estelle to see her image in Inez’s eyes
o Inez to be Estelle’s verbal mirror
o but Estelle seems distorted in that reflection
Inez tortures Estelle
o sees a pimple
o threatens to start telling lies
o pricks Estelle’s vanity
turn on each other
o temporary alliances
 3: always uneven #, always 2 against 1
o Hellish “love” triangle
 Inez wants Estelle
 Estelle wants Garcin
 Garcin wants to be left alone (for now)
 later, Garcin wants Inez to clear his conscience
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EXISTENCE:
o can’t forget other people
o can’t escape other people
o INEZ: To forget about the others? How utterly absurd! I feel you there, in every pore. Your
silence clamors in my ears. You can nail up your mouth, cut your tongue out-- but you can't
prevent your being there. Can you stop your thoughts?
 Hell = other people
Inez threatens to be their torturer
o She “won’t leave you in peace.”
o unprovoked – jealousy
o turn on each other
o She: “I prefer to choose my hell.”
 Have they?
 Can they?
 Do we all choose our own hells, in one way or another?
EXISTENCE:
o Garcin suggests just gets animal, no civilization – “natural”
 just have sex – sex w/o love
 amorous, wanton, lascivious – base, carnal
o GARCIN: Why not? We might, anyhow, be natural... Do you know, I used to be mad about
women? And some were fond of me. So we may as well stop posing, we've nothing to lose. Why
trouble about politeness, and decorum, and the rest of it? We're between ourselves. And
presently we shall be naked as -- as newborn babes.
 Essential Man, Naked Man, Uncivilized Man
 = base, carnal, impolite, unapologetic, ….
 Man’s natural state of existence
o of course, he’s also trying to torture Inez by threatening to have sex w/Estelle in front of her
VISION:
o Garcin was having a vision of his friends when the women broke the silence
TIME:
o Time = flying by on Earth
o Earth Time vs. Hell Time
Garcin’s damnation:
o side-steps Inez’s accusation that he = coward, deserter (it’s an “side-issue”)
o turns to his wife
o claims his mistreatment of his wife = cause of his damnation
 mistreated her for 5 years
o VISION:
 Garcin sees his wife
 Garcin = unrepentant: “I don’t regret anything.”
 she = “a victim by vocation” (blames her)
 I picked her out of the gutter
 It was so easy
 I was fond of teasing
 She admired me too much
 brought a lover (“half-caste girl”) in to their house, on the couch, made the wife serve
them coffee in the morning !!!!!!
Inez’s damnation:
o “a damned bitch.”
o affair with Florence, her cousin’s wife
o tortured him
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o until he was run over by a tram
o Inez = SADIST
 torturer even in life
 tortured cousin (blames him .. as Garcin blamed his wife (Inez = Garcin)
 controlled Florence
 drove him to his death
 unrepentant (Inez = Garcin)
 “I’m rather cruel, really.”
 “When I say I’m cruel, I mean I can’t get on without making people suffer.”
 honest, but unrepentant
Inez’s death:
o Florence turned on the gas stove while Inez slept, got back in bed with her
Inez & Garcin team up against Estelle to torture her
o to get her to confess her damnation, death, sins
o she wants to get out of hell  tries to ring the bell (it doesn’t)
o she tells – (with relish!! ..the real Estelle)
 had a baby (daughter) w/her lover (Roger)
 he wanted one, she didn’t
 she threw it off the balcony into the lake, drowned it w/a big stone
 Roger blew his brains out, she = unrepentant
Garcin wants them to work together, “to help each other”
o GARCIN: INEZ, they've laid their snare damned cunningly-- like a cobweb. If you make any
movement, if you raise your hand to fan yourself, ESTELLE and I feel a little tug. Alone, none
of us can save himself or herself; we're linked together inextricably.
o FALSE HOPE –
 still thinks they can be saved
 still thinks there’s a way out of Hell
o EXISTENCE:
 COMMUNISM of sorts, we’re all in this together
 If they work together, they can save each other
 truly EXIST
 BUT
o They’re in HELL, no hope, no saving each other, too late
 Is Sartre being ironic, confused, or what?
VISION:
o they’ve rented Inez & Florence’s apartment
o TIME moves on
 vision fades
 now Inez = truly dead
 100% dead: “I must be going blind. Blacked out. I can't see or hear a thing. So I'm
done with the earth, it seems. No more alibis for me! I feel so empty, desiccated-- really
dead at last. All of me's here, in this room.”
 I'm rotten to the core.
 A dead twig, ready for the burning.
FALSE HOPE:
o Garcin still thinks he can “defeat their devilish tricks.”
o thinks in human terms; thinks Inez (& Estelle & himself) still possesses “a spark of human
feeling”
NOTHING = UNPLANNED:
o all = foreseen, planned for, taken into consideration –
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o Inez: “: I know. And you're another trap. Do you think they haven't foreknown every word you
say? And of course there's a whole nest of pitfalls that we can't see. Everything here's a
booby-trap. But what do I care? I'm a pitfall, too. For her, obviously. And perhaps I'll catch her.”
o she realizes that they = torturers
Inez’s awareness of fate:
o “I know what's coming to me. I'm going to burn, and it's to last forever. Yes, I KNOW
everything.”
o yet she = still wrong @ burning
TRAPS:
o Estelle tempts Inez
o Inez = a woman who doesn’t need Garcin
o Garcin tempts Estelle, unintentionally, doesn’t need her, wants pity (claims to pity Inez)
 she wants her, but she wants him, and he wants no one
VISION:
o Estelle sees Olga (her friend) on a date w/ her ex-lover (PETER, 18-year-old boy)
o Estelle = possessive (“He belonged to me.”)
EXISTENCE:
o “Nothing on earth belongs to you now.” (Inez)
o “Nothing [is left of Estelle] whatever. Nothing of you's left on earth-- not even a shadow. All
you own is here.” (Inez)
 after death, that’s all
 no more existence
 no more ties to the world
 existence ceases/expires at death
 existence is temporary
Evil Eye:
o Estelle’s glance at Olga
o “Oh, once I'd have only had to glance at them and she'd have slunk away.”
FALSE HOPE:
o in her vision, Estelle calls to Peter
o thinks that if Peter remembers her, she can be saved
o “Peter, dear, think of me, fix your thoughts on me, and save me.”
?? Estelle doesn’t want Olga to tell Peter @ something – what?
o infanticide?
o something else?
 he stops dancing, laughing – she’s told him something
 he = shaken … but he knew, suspected
 @ Roger, trip to Switzerland, infantcide
Vision – fades
o TIME passes on: “The earth has left me.”
o  plays the martyr “I've dropped out of their heart like a little sparrow fallen from its nest.”
o  throws herself at Garcin (until the end of the play)
Inez tries to seduce Estelle:
o Estelle throws herself at Garcin
o Inez throws herself at Estelle
 rather poetic (BUT FAKE – words w/o thoughts)
 “But, my poor little fallen nestling, you've been sheltering in my heart for ages, though
you didn't realize it. Don't be afraid; I'll keep looking at you for ever and ever, without a
flutter of my eyelids, and you'll live in my gaze like a mote in a sunbeam.”
 then she uses Peter’s pet names for her as a weapon – “glancing stream,” “crystal”
 SADISM
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Estelle - on to Inez’s tricks
o realizes her own emptiness, shallowness
o “A sunbeam indeed! Don't talk such rubbish! You've tried that trick already, and you should
know it doesn't work. […] Your crystal? It's grotesque. Do you think you can fool me with that
sort of talk? Everyone know by now what I did to my baby. The crystal's shattered, but I don't
care. I'm just a hollow dummy, all that's left of me is the outside--but it's not for you.”
Estelle spits in Inez’s face
o Inez blames Garcin for it!
EXISTENCE:
o IDENTITY
o MIRROR
 Estelle needs a man (her identity)
 Garcin needs to be needed by a woman (his identity)
 Inez needs to torture others (her identity)
 a man’s gaze = MIRROR, to reflect in their eyes the image of herself
 what she sees herself as (attractive, desirable)
broken agreements
o there can be no agreements in Hell!
o (no honor)
o Garcin won’t keep away from Estelle as promised to Inez
EVIL EYE#2:
o Estelle watches Garcin & Estelle
No consummation –
o just as Garcin & Estelle are getting it on (no kissing yet)
o Garcin has a vision
VISION
o Garcin @ his newspaper friends
o TIME: (*6 months have passed on earth*)
Estelle wants just sex
Garcin wants her trust
o he needs to be needed
o trust  cowardice (if she can trust him, then he’s not a coward)
Garcin’s death
o shot as a deserter
o rationalization – to launch a pacifist newspaper (his true colors)
Garcin doubts his own motives –
o he’s been lying to others
o he’s been lying to himself
o but
o “But were they the real reasons” & “But was that my real motive?”
Gives Inez the power over him
Inez the torturer
o the sadistic prodder of conscience
o but she’s also jealous – her true motives
last hope:
o how Garcin faced death – if he faced it courageously, then no coward
 he shat himself
Garcin = worried @ being a coward
Estelle = just wants sex (“Coward or hero, it’s all one-provided he kisses well.”)
Inez = wants Estelle, will torture Garcin, both
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Coward’s death:
o die 1,000 times (Julius Caesar)
o “I’m long in dying.”
TIME:
o Garcin’s wife dies
o “Yes, she died just now. About two months ago.”
o just now – 2 months ago = present & past tense
o time = flying
o Earth Time vs. Hell Time
o of grief (suspects Garcin – but)
LEGACY:
o Garcin = worried @ his reputation, his legacy
o “But THEY won't forget me, not they! They'll die, but others will come after them to carry on
the legend. I've left my fate in their hands.
o What else is there to do now? I was a man of action once... Oh, if only I could be with them
again, for just one day--I'd fling their lie in their teeth. But I'm locked out; they're passing
judgment on my life without troubling about me, and they're right, because I'm dead. Dead and
done with. A back number.”
 after death – no control over you reputation
FALSE HOPE:
o Garcin still thinks he can be saved
o believes ‘that one person’s faith would save me.”
 asks Estelle to have faith in him
 then he’d love her (give her what she needs)
 WORK TOGETHER – quid pro quo – mutual beneficial – unity, community
o thinks that then, he & Estelle can “climb out of hell”
Inez, of course, bursts his bubble (she doesn’t mean it, she doesn’t know what she’s saying, too sstupid,
too horny to know better) but Inez really gets it
HELL:
o Garcin can’t take it any more
o welcomes the physical torture, not the mental torture
o mental torture = worse thatn physical torture
o “Open the door! Open, blast you! I'll endure anything, your red-hot tongs and molten lead,
your racks and prongs and garrotes-- all your fiendish gadgets, everything that burns and
flays and tears-- I'll put up with any torture you impose. Anything, anything would be better
than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never
hurts quite enough. Now will you open? (THE DOOR FLIES OPEN: a long silence.)”
demands the door to be opened – nothing – pleads for the torture –
DOOR OPENS:
o Garcin won’t go
o b/c of Inez – needs Inez to say he’s not a coward b/c she knows “what it means to be a coward,”
knows “wickedness,” knows “what evil costs” (????)
o Estelle threatens to push Inez out
CATCH-22:
o need other people to be complete
o but
o that gives them power over you & so they withhold what you need
o with or without you
100% dead – all 3:
o Garcin now can no longer hear earth
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o “That’s the one and only thing I wish for now. I can't hear them any longer, you know. Probably
that means they're through with me. For good and all. The curtain's down, nothing of me is left
on earth-- not even the name of coward. So, INEZ, we're alone. Only you two remain to give a
thought to me. She- she doesn't count. It's you who matter; you who hate me. If you'll have faith
in me I'm saved.”
False Hope – Garcin still
Judgment:
o Can one be judged by a single action?
o “Each man has an aim in life, a leading motive; that's so, isn't it? Well, I didn't give a damn for
wealth, or for love. I aimed at being a real man. A tough, as they say. I staked everything on the
same horse... Can one possibly be a coward when one's deliberately courted danger at every
turn? And can one judge a life by a single action?”
o (of course, Garcin = lying to himself – he wasn’t damned for 1 action but for several)
EXISTENCE = SELF-DECEPTION:
o Inez: “Why not? For thirty years you dreamt you were a hero, and condoned a thousand petty
lapses--because a hero, of course, can do no wrong. An easy method, obviously. Then a day
came when you were up against it, the red light of real danger-- and you took the train to
Mexico.”
o (Is Inez saying he = 30 years old OR he = in Hell for 30 years???)
o Self-aggrandizement
o Self-deception
o rationalization
SARTRE EXISTENTIALISM:
o GARCIN: I "dreamt," you say. It was no dream. When I chose the hardest path, I made my
choice deliberately. A man is what he wills himself to be.
INEZ: Prove it. Prove it was no dream. It's what one does, and nothing else, that shows the
stuff one's made of.
GARCIN: I died too soon. I wasn't allowed time to--to do my deeds.
INEZ: One always dies too soon-- or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that
moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are-- your life, and
nothing else.
 Actions, not will, that defines an existence
 the measure of a person = his actions, deeds – not his intentions, dreams
 works over faith (Christianity, Catholicism)
Inez the torturer:
o “Now you're going to pay the price, and what a price! You're a coward, GARCIN, because I
wish it! I wish it-- do you hear?-- I wish it. And yet, just look at me, see how weak I am, a mere
breath on the air, a gaze observing you, a formless thought that thinks you. Ah, they're open now,
those big hands, those coarse, man's hands! But what do you hope to do? You can't throttle
thoughts with hands. So you've no choice, you must convince me, and you're at my mercy.”
o The gaze
 physical, brawn, muscle, military
 vs.
 logical, mental, brain, ideology
Estelle tells Garcin to “revenge” himself – with a kiss
o Estelle gets what she wants
o Garcin gets revenge
o Inez suffers
 another power shift
but Garcin doesn’t kiss her






o again, suspended, delayed satisfaction
 Tantalus & Sisyphus
 (Sartre’s HELL = more Tartarus than Christian Hell)
Evil Eye:
o Inez watching Estelle & Garcin
o The gaze that stops him
Poetic: “Love’s a grand solace, isn’t it my friend?” (Inez)
GARCIN’S REALIZATION:
o the entire play has been moving in this direction
o with it comes the end
o realizes –
 everything’s been planned out beforehand
 he’s in hell
 no hope of salvation
 tortured psychologically
 for eternity
 now he needs a woman for more than sex
 now a woman tortures him (as he tortured his wife)
o “This bronze. Yes, now's the moment; I'm looking at this thing on the mantelpiece, and I
understand that I'm in hell. I tell you, everything's been throughout beforehand. They knew
I'd stand at the fireplace stroking this thing of bronze, with all those eyes intent on me.
Devouring me. What? Only two of you? I thought there were more; many more. So this is hell.
I'd never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire
and brimstone, the "burning marl." Old wives' tales! There's no need for red-hot pokers. HELL
IS--OTHER PEOPLE!”

Estelle stabs Inez (!!!)
o w/the letter opener
o proves
 Estelle’s true character (several times)
 Estelle’s denial (@ being dead, in hell)
 everything = there for a reason, planned out beforehand
o ironic: can’t kill the dead
o Estelle stabs herself then
LAUGHTER:
o all 3 start to laugh (ends play)
EXISTENTIAL DESPAIR
o at the thought of stabbing dead
ABSURDITY of EXISTENCE
o at the words “forever” – eternity
 ??
 Divine Comedy???
 absurdity of existence (their human-ness in hell)
 crazy laughter (realizing eternity)
 realization –
 dead
 in hell
 each other’s torturer
 for eternity
 NO EXIT – “forever”
 no hope of salvation, escape, ending
 no one else is coming 0 just the 3 of them
go to their respective sofas






laughter dies away
GAZE
o stare at each other, watching
END
o Garcin: “Well, well, let's get on with it...”
 What is the “it”?
 torture for eternity
 but no action, they never “do” anything
o almost kiss, have sex
o can’t kill each other
o can’t leave the door
gradually they come to realize, Inèz earliest, that they = each other’s torturer
o hell is other people
THOUGHTS:
 TIME --o Earth time vs. Hell Time
o approximately 6 months passes
o (or is 30 years - Inez)
 VISIONS:
o each has visions of life down on Earth
o as they see their funerals, friends & lovers talking about them
 eventually these visions fade
 as life moves on without them
 as people’s memory fades of the departed, the dead’s vision of Earth fade
 The GAZE:
o the EVIL EYE
 Estelle wants to give to Olga
 Inez gives it to Garcin (& Estelle)
o watching
 watching each other
 watching those back on earth
o being watched
 by devils
 FALSE HOPE (throughout)
o think it’s still “before” because they have not yet begun to suffer
o that they can be “saved”
o that there’s been a mistake
o that they can work together to make it easier, to get out of Hell
 Hellish “love” triangle:
o Inèz wants Estelle
o Estelle wants Garcin
o Garcin wants Inèz to say he’s not a coward
 The DOOR does open
o Garcin demands to be left out
o bangs & screams
o when it opens, he freezes, afraid to leave
o Estelle threatens to throw Inèz out (so she can be alone with Garcin)
 fear of the unknown – perhaps worse tortures




hotter with door open
they “need” each other –
 Garcin needs Inèz ’ validation that he’ s not a coward
 Estelle needs Garcin for sex, companionship
 Inèz needs to punish Garcin & get Estelle
Ends with realizations
o they = dead
o they = in Hell
o they = each other’s torturers
TITLE:
o no exit
o from each other, from self, from actions or inactions
o lack of freedom  only this existence has freedom
 no freedom in Hell
 no freedom in Heaven, either
 at that point, it’s too late
 chance to decide = while you exist
 (there’s a tide in the affairs of men - JC)

???:
o How can an existentialist, who believes in only existence, no God, no after life, no heaven &
hell, write a story about hell, about the afterlife
o If there’s a hell, there’s a heaven, if there’s a devil, then there’s a God
o Doesn’t the idea of an afterlife contradict the main tenet of existentialism – that there is only
human existence, only this mortal life?

Symbolism:
o letter opener
 nothing = unplanned
o Second Empire style
 accessible to French audience
 suggests Hell on Earth
o ugly bronze
o couches
o shirt sleeves
torture each other:
o no devils
 no official torturers
 hell is other people
o keep turning on each other
 temporary alliances
 2 vs. 1
o 3–
 odd number
 never be a consensus
 never get along
Naked Man:
o Essential Man
o without decorum, civilization





IDENTITIES:
o Garcin needs to be forgiven, especially by a woman
o Inèz needs to control others, especially a woman
o Estelle needs to be loved, especially by a man
 mirror: need other people to exist
EXISTENCE:
1. based on reflection
 what others see
 external
 (Estelle in Inèz ’s eyes)
2. without talk
 silence
 existence = torment
3. web
 inter-connectedness
 can’t make it alone
 perhaps together
4. limited to Earth
 nothing after death
5. mirror
 need other people to exist
 to have meaning, purpose, substance
6. self-deception
 self-aggrandizement, justifications
 rationalizations
 lies we tell ourselves @ what we did or didn’t do
NAZI-OCCUPIED PARIS:
o dealing with feelings of defeat, occupation
o self-deception, false hopes
o Paris = like Hell
o Inèz dies via gas stove
o occupation
 turns French on each other
 need other but can’t stand, trust each other
 salvation through working together
 “golden pheasants” turning on each other, spying, informing on each other
o time
 sense of time = distorted
 drags on for the person, speeds by in reality
 20 minutes = 6 months
o freedom
 freedom is questioned
 freedom of Parisians
 freedom of all humans
o Paris = microcosm of human existence
 freedom, time, self-deception
o the GAZE:
 watching & being watched
 the suspicion, torment of neighbors
 informing on each other

being watched by the Nazis
QUOTES:
 l'enfer, c'est les autres ("Hell is other people")
 “Love’s a grand solace
 I prefer to choose my hell
 “a victim by vocation
 Alone, none of us can save himself or herself; we're linked together inextricably.
 But, my poor little fallen nestling, you've been sheltering in my heart for ages, though you didn't realize
it. Don't be afraid; I'll keep looking at you for ever and ever, without a flutter of my eyelids, and you'll
live in my gaze like a mote in a sunbeam
SONGS:
 Billy Joel “Blonde over Blue”
 U2 “with or without you”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
CHARACTERS
JOSEPH GARCIN:
 1st to enter (to die)
 30
 journalist
 pacifist
 from Rio
 workaholic
 deserter during the war
 sins:
o unrepentant
o cowardice
 deserts army during war (WWII?)
o womanizer (psychological abuse, callousness – toward wife)
o (irony: he = a pacifist, conscientious objector, yet tortures his wife, unconscionable)
 death:
o died @ month ago (at start) 6 months (by end)
o 12 bullets in chest
o tried to desert to Mexico to start a pacifist newspaper
o rather than disobey orders & get locked up (silenced)
o train
 damnation:
o “no regrets”
o reprobate
o unrepentant womanizer
o psychologically abused his wife (girl on the couch)
 false hopes
o can be saved, redeemed
o it’s not too late
 thinks like a human
o toothbrush, beds, sleep





o hell = physical torture
plan for dealing w/damnation:
o silence
o shut up & leave each other alone, to ponder their sins
salvation, redemption
o through Inèz
o she understands cowardice & wickedness
o if she thinks he’s not a coward, then he’ll be redeemed
habit:
o tries to cry
o tries to make peace with situation, himself, his behaviors to the people he hurt during his lifetime
o does not question his damnation; knows his sins
given the chance:
o given the chance to leave, but opts to stay
o given the chance for “love” & sex, but lets go
 both for the same reason: rationalizes that he can convince Inèz that he’s not a coward
autobiographical:
o modeled after his maternal grandfather (who had several affairs, religious hypocrite)
o modeled after himself (several meaningless affairs)
 Sartre as a writer for the French Resistance, underground newspaper & Garcin’s planned
pacifist paper (?)
INÈZ SERRANO
 2nd to arrive
o (looking for Florence, later revealed as her gay lover, who killed her & herself)
 unmarried
 lesbian
 sadist
o a self-proclaimed “damned bitch”
 post office clerk
 hates men (sexist, misandry, philogynyst)
 Estelle’s mirror:
o uses Estelle’s weakness as seduction
 Garcin’s conscience
o that he’s not a coward
 honest … but honesty as a weapon
o about her own deeds & theirs
o about their situation
o about their respective needs
 power:
o understands where they are & why
o understands 1st their roles – torturer of each other
o understands that there’s been no mistake & that their damnation has been planned out carefully
o uses her power to manipulate to torture
 turns them against each other
o uses others’ weaknesses to her advantage
 sins:
o unrepentant
o adultery
o turns wife against husband
o against her own cousin


o drives him to his death
death:
o died last week
o affair with her cousin’s wife
o drove him to death
o Florence killed Inèz & self
o gas stove (left on while I. slept)
damnation:
o sadist
o “no regrets”
o reprobate
o unrepentant womanizer
o proudly drove her cousin to death (tram)
o her cousin’s wife
ESTELLE RIGAULT:
 diva
 Paris
 no tears, no husband at her funeral
 high society (snob)
 married for money (not love)
 affair w/younger, poor man (18)
 denial:
o refuses to accept she’s dead, she’s in hell
o won’t say “dead” or allow others to say it (“absent”)
o thinks it’s all some mistake, like a records error
 infanticide:
o baby w/lover
o tosses it off a balcony into a lake
 TX of Ines:
o spits on her
o stabs her (multiple times) w/letter opener
o going to push her out the door (stopped by Garcin)
 needs:
o reflection – mirror – needs to see her own reflection to exist
o needs a man to love her, to define herself as a woman
o needs to be needed, wanted (not loved, but desired)
 sins:
o vanity
o unrepentant
o baby killer
o adulterer
 death:
o died yesterday
o of pneumonia
o (unrelated to her sins?)
 damnation:
o “no regrets”
o reprobate
o unrepentant man-chaser, adulterer
o unrepentant baby killer
o through her baby off a balcony & drowned in a lake
o clueless
VALET:
 porter, bellhop at hotel hell
 not much “character”; limited dialogue w/Garcin
 his uncle = head valet (Satan?)
 has no eyelids
 aloof, answers their questions (as if he’s answered them a million times before)
 amused by their human thinking
THEMES:





SELF-DECEPTION:
o Estelle & Garcin refuse to admit the truth of the lives, deaths, sins
o Garcin rationalizes his behavior
SELF-IMPRISONMENT:
o by refusing to define themselves, they enslave, imprison themselves
o they make hell other people – not the devil
o they give power to the others
o they surrender their freedom
o they invite the occupying force in to their country (NAZIS)
DENIAL:
o denial of sins
o denial of deaths
o denial of damnation
o denial of torture others
EXISTENCE precedes ESSENCE:
 human consciousness precedes identity
 not predetermined
o FREEDOM with a PRICE -o humans= free to define their own identities
o BUT
o this freedom comes with a price
 total responsibility for one’s own actions
 (“condemned to be free” = no one else to blame, loneliness)
o  this responsibility creates fear, anxiety, dread
o  leads lesser people to abdicate their freedom
 to enslave themselves
 to imprison themselves
 to surrender to others
 jailed
 frozen by the GAZE of the Other
o freezes, paralyzes the object
o the objectifying, defining, judging gaze of another
 conformity
 holocausts
 social responsibility (evil succeeds b/c good people do nothing)
o = BAD FAITH
BAD FAITH:
o self- deception, -denial




o denial of true essence
o Freudian “denial”
o know the truth but deny it
 to flee what it is
 but
 cannot flee what it is
 NO EXIT: cannot escape from who/what you are
o inauthenticity:
 Heidegger, not wanting to accept reality:
 freedom & the responsibility that comes along with that freedom
ACTING motif:
o characters = acting
 pretending to be someone else – by lying to themselves @ sins, past (self-deception)
o actors = acting
 actors playing characters who are playing roles
WATCHING motif:
o the GAZE
 objectifies, defines, controls, imprisons, enslaves
 immobilizes, freezes, paralyzes the object, watched
 prevents the Object from defining itself, from acting/moving/doing, from being happy, free
 literally holds the Object
o Inez watches Garcin & Estelle (stopping them from kissing)
o Inez feels Garcin watching her, even though he’s not, his mere presence, & this prevents her
freedom
o Inez plays Estelle’s mirror, watching her, Estelle looking into her eyes, prevents Estelle’s selfdefinition
o Inez, Garcin, & Estelle are watched by the Devil, the Valet
o the entire cast = watched by the audience
 LITERARY ANALYSIS –
 characters = not self-defining
o not free, not real, not alive, damned
 characters = defined by readers, audiences, scholars
 characters = objects to be defined, no essence, no identity
 characters = “being-in-itself” (not “being-for-itself”)
o Are there characters in Literature who define themselves?
o Is that what the SHKN Tragic Hero is, one who transcends his character,
defines himself, accepts his responsibility (PSC)?
o Are there characters who simply refuse to be defined due to their complexity
(Hamlet)?
  MORAL: If we don’t define ourselves, we become reduced to a character, an object,
some thing to be defined
ddd

Section 1
Summary
The one-act play opens on a drawing room with Second-Empire style furniture and a massive bronze statue on a
mantelpiece. A quiet yet mysterious looking Valet leads Garcin, a journalist from Rio, into the room. Garcin is
at first very confused as to what is going on. He claims that he does not like Second Empire style furniture,
asking if all the rooms are like this one. The Valet is evasive but Garcin then admits that he actually had a habit
of living with furniture he didn't like. Garcin then exclaims that this is not what he expected hell to be like. The
Valet laughs at Garcin for wanting his toothbrush and asking where the bed is: he has not fully accepted his
death.
Garcin pretends to be at ease but is frightened by the Valet not having any eyelids. It bothers him to have
someone stare at him so intently. He begins to worry about having to keep his own eyes open during eternal
daylight, especially when there are no books around, but the Valet calmly reminds him that he is dead. As he
leaves, the Valet points out a bell that should summon him, but he says that it does not always work. Left alone,
Garcin gazes at the bronze statue for a moment, but then repeatedly rings the bell and tries to open the door. As
soon as he gives up and sits down, the door opens.
The Valet brings in a women named Inèz , who had been a postal clerk in Paris. She immediately thinks that
Garcin is a torturer, but he laughs at her, wondering how she could confuse him for one of the staff. She coldly
replies that she knows how torturers look, having often watched herself in mirrors. Garcin realizes that there are
no mirrors in the room. She also explains that she doesn't like men. Despite her coldness, Garcin tries to make
peace with Inèz , explaining that they must be courteous to each other in order to make the best out of their
situation. She replies that she is not polite and then yells at him for twisting his mouth. She tells him that there is
no need to be frightened since they are already dead, but Garcin thinks they have not yet begun to suffer.
The Valet reenters followed by Estelle, a wealthy young housewife from Paris. She thinks that Garcin is
someone else but won't say whom. Inèz instantly takes a liking to her, offering to switch couches with her and
wishing that she had flowers to give her. Estelle just died of pneumonia and seemingly watches her funeral from
the room, remarking that no one is crying. Inèz asks her if she suffered and she says no, that she was only half
conscious. The same holds true for the other two: Inèz suffocated in her sleep from a leaky gas stove and
Garcin was shot by a firing squad.
Estelle asks them not use the word "dead," but the word "absent" instead. Garcin begins thinking about his wife,
who does not yet know he is dead. He exclaims that she got on his nerves. The two women ask him not to take
his jacket off even though it is stiflingly hot in the room and he obeys. After this incident they begin to wonder
why they have been placed together. Estelle thinks that it is all absurd and that they should be with friends and
family instead. Garcin agrees, saying that their being together is a fluke. But Inèz disagrees, explaining that
nothing has been left to chance. She thinks the room was set with them in mind.
Commentary
Existentialism is primarily a reaction against the traditional philosophical approach to objective and abstract
understandings of human behavior. Instead, existentialists choose to study individual human beings who exist
independently of cultures, traditions, and laws. The setting of No Exit is thus the perfect existentialist
"laboratory" to study three separate individuals who are divorced from the world and people they knew. Left
in an empty room/cell their actions and feelings will thus define exactly who they really are. The lack of
mirrors amplifies this situation. Each person is given a choice: will they define who they are on their own or
rely on the other inmates to decide who they are?
Sartre thus examines the question of existence and essence through the actions of Garcin, Inèz , and Estelle.
Since they have all recently died, they must confront the bare existence of their consciousness as their physical
bodies are buried on earth. Using Descartes' method of posing the cogito, the individual's consciousness and the
"other" part of himself or herself that observes that consciousness, Sartre creates a "menage a trois" where each
character must ignore or accept the judgment of the other two. For example, when they first meet, Inèz says
that Garcin's mouth looks grotesquely frightened. Since there are no mirrors, Garcin must decide if Inèz is right
or what he thinks himself is right. In this case, Garcin believes Inèz rather than his own judgment. He lets her
define his essence, or personal characteristics, and thus, in Sartre's definition, has "bad faith."
Sartre brilliantly emphasizes that hell is not so much a specific place, but a state of mind, by delaying the
explanation of where the drawing room is. Also, by using Second Empire furniture, he makes the idea of hell
not only something accessible to his contemporary French audience, but suggests that hell exists on earth. Many
critics have suggested that this last point was a result of Sartre writing during the German occupation of Paris
(1940-44). The constant stare of the eyelid-less Valet evokes the troubling Nazi presence and their surveillance
of Parisians. For someone like Sartre, who was involved in the Resistance, the looming presence of the Gestapo
was a frightening possibility. It is important to remember that the play was first performed in 1944, three
months before Paris's liberation by allied forces. Faced with the humiliation and despair of German occupation
for four years, Sartre undoubtedly began to think that Paris was hell on earth.
Sartre uses the theatrical technique of exposition to introduce his audience to each character by placing them in
a strange and unusual situation. Each character thus explains how they died and what they think of their
room/hell with out sounding awkward. Sartre also foreshadows many of the major themes of the play in this
first section. For example, even though they are already dead and have nothing to hide, each character
continues to lie to themselves. Garcin pretends to find the furniture shocking, while Estelle pretends that she is
in hell by mistake. Moreover, Estelle's first impression that Garcin was her dead lover foreshadows their future
relationship. With the haunting presence of the lustful Inèz looking on, Sartre thus physically enacts the theme
of triangular desire with three people "living" in the same room.
Section 2
Summary
Estelle is shocked at Inèz 's notion that the three of them have been placed together to torture each other. Garcin
suggests that they all confess to what they did so they can figure out what is going on. Estelle claims that a
mistake has been made. She married a man she did not love but refused to cheat on him. The other two agree
that she did not sin. Garcin says that he died standing up for his principles: he claims that he ran a pacifist
newspaper and refused to fight when war broke out. But Inèz declares that they should all stop lying to each
other, explaining that they are all damned souls who deserve to be in hell.
Inèz then realizes what is going on. There is no "official" physical torture in hell: they will just torture each
other simply by being together. Garcin says that he will not torture anybody and asks everyone to stop talking
and just ignore each other. But Inèz refuses and begins to sing. Estelle can't keep from talking and asks Inèz
for a mirror, saying that if she can't see herself she begins to wonder if she really exists. They can't find a
mirror, but Inèz says that it doesn't matter, claiming that she is always conscious of herself in her mind. She
then proposes that she act as Estelle's mirror and the vain Estelle agrees.
The two women begin bickering because Estelle rejects Inèz 's advances and tries to flirt with Garcin. He asks
them to keep quiet but Inèz exclaims that it would be impossible for her to ignore his existence. She can't stand
his looking at her, saying that he has stolen her face. She declares that she will look back at him, preferring to
choose her own personal hell. They decide to tell each other everything, hoping that it will make things easier.
Garcin admits that he treated his wife horribly, constantly cheating on her and sometimes bringing women back
to their house. Inèz confesses to having seduced her cousin's wife while living with them. She explains that she
enjoys making vulnerable people suffer. Her guilty lover killed them both by leaving the gas on while she slept.
After refusing to acknowledge that she did anything wrong, Estelle finally confesses to having cheated on her
husband and getting pregnant. She ran off to Switzerland to have the baby and the drowned it right before her
lover's eyes. Her lover then shot himself in the face. Garcin suggests that they are all linked together
inextricably but Inèz refuses to be bound by her past, saying that she still has a choice. She recognizes the fact
that Estelle's attractiveness will torture her for eternity and that they are all in a well-laid trap. Nevertheless, she
refuses the sympathy of others and insists that she will face hell on her own terms.
Commentary
Sartre emphasizes the theme of self-deception throughout this section. Even though they are already dead, both
Garcin and Estelle will not admit to themselves why they are in hell. They have nothing to lose by admitting the
truth, but they are so in the habit of being dishonest with themselves they cannot articulate even the most
obvious truth. Only Inèz refuses to lie, calling herself a "damned bitch" and demanding that the other two stop
"play-acting" and throwing "dust in each other's eyes." Sartre use of the word "play-acting" also recalls the
artificial setting of the play itself: no matter what the characters do, they are still actors and actresses who are
"lying" to each other. There is "no exit" from self-deception.
The relationship between existence and essence is also a major theme in this section. Estelle thinks that she does
not really exist unless she can see herself. She does not trust her own judgment, instead relying on an external
object to both create her essence and verify her existence. This is another example of bad faith: Estelle is unable
to define her essence. Sartre believed that human consciousness was free to choose its own character or essence
but must also assume responsibility for this freedom. Estelle is unable to do this, asking Inèz to be her mirror so
she can create Estelle's essence for her. Inèz revels in her power, even telling Estelle she has a pimple when she
really doesn't. As for Inèz , she refuses to let other people define her essence. She claims that she is always
"painfully conscious" of herself. Sartre believed that suffering was an essential step in affirming one's existence,
writing, "Life begins on the other side of despair."
This section also establishes Sartre's underlying argument of the play: "Hell is other people." Inèz can't be an
objective mirror while looking at Estelle; since they do not have the same "taste" Estelle surrenders her
individuality to Inèz 's gaze. Likewise, Inèz can't stand Garcin looking at her because she thinks that he is
automatically judging her. Since she thinks that is her own role, she accuses him of "stealing" her face. Garcin's
mere existence thus reduces Inèz 's feelings of autonomy. He suggests that they all accept being bound together,
but Inèz still insists that she has the freedom to make her own decisions. For example, both Garcin and Estelle
refuse to let go of their pasts, each "looking" at their friends and loved ones back on earth. Even though they
realize that time is passing more quickly on earth than in their room, they both continue to see themselves in
terms of their past. Inèz however, sees her past as meaningless and inaccessible, choosing to exist in the present
instead. She insists to the others that "nothing" is left of them on earth and that "all you own is here." Rather
than justify her existence in terms of the person she used to be, Inèz asserts her freedom to choose her essence
in the present, even though she is in hell.
Section 3
Summary
Just after Inèz warns Garcin of all the traps that have been set for him in the room, Estelle tries to seduce him.
Garcin resists her, telling her to stay with Inèz instead. But Estelle insists that Inèz doesn't count since she is a
woman. Inèz redoubles her efforts to seduce Estelle but she spits in Inèz 's face.
Garcin finally gives up and goes over to Estelle. Inèz protests but Garcin says that she broke their agreement
first. Garcin and Estelle begin to kiss but Inèz refuses to look away, screaming that she will watch them the
whole time they are together. But Garcin wants something more from Estelle. He asks her for her trust before he
confesses something. Before she can agree, Garcin admits that he was executed for running away, not for
passively resisting as he had claimed. He was arrested at the border for desertion and was promptly shot. Estelle
says that she understands why he ran away but that is not what Garcin is looking for. He asks her if he is a
coward, but she says that it would be impossible for her to tell. She asks him to decide for himself but he says
that he can't.
Inèz tells him to stop lying to himself and admit why he ran away. Garcin counters that he has been trying to
understand his motives ever since he was caught and has been unable to prove to himself that he is not a
coward. He explains that he faced death poorly and has been haunted ever since by the judgments of his friends
and co-workers. The only thing Garcin wants is for Estelle to think and say that he is not a coward and she
agrees. But Inèz starts to cackle, explaining to Garcin that Estelle was just agreeing with him because she
wanted to be close to a man. When he confronts Estelle, she admits that she didn't even understand what Garcin
was asking her.
Disgusted with both of them, Garcin begins ringing the bell for the Valet and furiously pounding on the door.
He exclaims that he would be willing to withstand any kind of physical torture just so long as the door opens.
Suddenly, the door opens but Garcin stands still. Inèz tells him that he is free to go but he decides to stay in
order to convince her that he is not a coward. Garcin knows that she understands what it means to be a coward
and can't bear to think of her passing judgment on him if he left. He decides that if Inèz has faith in him then
he'll be saved. But she refuses, claiming that he made his choice freely and must take responsibility for his
actions. She resolves to make him miserable for staying. He tries to make her jealous by kissing Estelle but Inèz
refuses to give in, continuously calling him a coward. Garcin gives up but Estelle takes a paper-knife and stabs
Inèz . She had forgotten that they were already dead. Realizing that they are stuck together forever, the curtain
falls as they absurdly giggle at their fate.
Commentary
Garcin turns out to have the worst case of "bad faith" of all three characters in this section. He can't decide on
his own that he is not coward, but will only believe it if Estelle says so herself. Even though he later says that he
made his choice "deliberately" and that a man is what he "wills himself to be," Garcin wearily explains that he
can't decide for himself if he is a coward or not. He says that he is unsure of his motives and that he has been
unable to be honest with himself about why he ran for the border. He also obsesses about the people who are
judging him back on earth. He claims that he has left his "fate in their hands."
This classic example of bad faith stems from Garcin's complete inability to accept responsibility for is actions.
Rather than acknowledge his freedom to choose his own personality, Garcin surrenders his free will to other
people. He becomes a "being-in-itself," whose essence is determined by the look of the "other." This is why he
can't leave when the door opens. He can't imagine existing on his own, knowing that Inèz will be judging him
and that he won't know what she is saying. Just like Estelle's inability to feel that she exists without seeing
herself in a mirror, Garcin is unable to exist without other people defining his essence for him.
Garcin also remains a prisoner of his past. He keeps "listening" to what people are saying about him rather than
listening to his own voice in the present. Even when he attempts to convince Inèz that he is not a coward in the
present, he continually justifies his actions in the past. For instance, he suggests that he died "too soon" and
"wasn't allowed time" to act, forgetting that he will be stuck in hell for eternity. Sartre wrote that the
responsibility for one's freedom was so overwhelming that we are "condemned to be free," a statement literally
played out by Garcin's inability to leave the room. Unable to exist without people judging his past, Garcin
condemns himself to remain in the eternal present of the room.
It is fitting that Sartre originally entitled the play The Others. Suffering under the German occupation, Sartre
wrote that he began to understand that Evil was just as absolute and independent as Good in society. By simply
placing three individuals in the same room, Sartre not only suggests that hell naturally exists on earth but that
"hell is other people." As Garcin discovers, there is no need for physical torture: the gaze of the "other" reduces
and "devours" his individuality. He is unable to do anything, even kiss Estelle, when Inèz is watching. Ignoring
his innate freedom and responsibility, Garcin thinks Inèz 's judgment is the only proof of his existence.
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Analysis
Sartre sought to synthesize many of his philosophical arguments with fiction. Yet in a play about "selfdeception" and "bad faith" the implicit double entendre of characters "play-acting" to be something they are not
and actors pretending to play those characters, perfectly complements Sartre's straightforward philosophical
argument. In effect, No Exit is a play about the "devouring" gaze of the other and how it restricts one's freedom,
incorporated into the play itself and played out on stage through the gaze of the audience members. The
characters constantly look for mirrors in order to avoid the judging gaze of each other, while their failure is
played out by the constant stare of the play's spectators.
The play's central themes of freedom and responsibility come from Sartre's doctrine that "existence precedes
essence." Sartre believed that human consciousness, or a "being-for-itself," differed from inanimate objects, or a
"being-in-itself," since humans have the ability to choose and define their individual characteristics, or essence.
But with this freedom of choice comes the absolute responsibility for one's action. The fear and anxiety of this
responsibility leads many people to ignore both their freedom and their responsibility by letting other people
make their choices for them, resulting in bad faith. This is why Garcin is unable to leave the room when the
door opens. He can't handle the responsibility of confronting his decision to flee his country, and thus leaves it
up to Inèz to judge him and define his essence. Similarly, Estelle does not think that she exists unless she looks
in a mirror, seeing herself as others do. When Inèz pretends to be her "mirror" and says Estelle has a pimple on
her face, Estelle's bad faith causes her to accept someone else literally creating her essence. Both Estelle and
Garcin are not only "condemned to be free," but are willing to condemn themselves in order to avoid being free.
This emphasis on bad faith establishes Sartre's underlying argument of the play: "Hell is other people." Using
only three people and an empty room, Sartre evokes scenes of utter torture and despair. In effect, Inèz can't
stand Garcin looking at her because she thinks that he is automatically judging her. Since she thinks that is her
own role, she accuses him of "stealing" her face. Garcin's mere existence thus reduces Inèz 's feelings of
autonomy. Moreover, both Garcin and Estelle refuse to let go of their pasts, each "looking" at their friends and
loved ones back on earth. They attempt to justify their existence by only thinking about their past experiences:
as Garcin explains, his "fate" is the evaluation of his past actions by other people. Inèz however, sees her past
as meaningless and inaccessible, choosing to exist in the present instead. She insists to the others that "nothing"
is left of them on earth and that "all you own is here." Rather than justify her existence in terms of the person
she used to be, Inèz asserts her freedom to choose her essence in the present, even though she is in hell. She is
the only character in the play intent on confronting both her responsibility and her suffering--an essential step is
asserting her existence. As Sartre explained, "Life begins on the other side of despair."
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THEMES:
Cowardice
Garcin's greatest fear is fear itself, to borrow the cliché. That is to say, he is tormented by the idea that he may
be a coward. Ironically, in the play's beginning, he seems quite the opposite of a coward: he strolls into the
drawing room with his chin held high and casually asks where the torture instruments are, as if it were all a
game. Gradually, as the play wears on, he loses his defenses; he is stripped bare, so to speak, and reveals his
insecurities. The question, however, remains: is Garcin a coward? Was his attempt to flee to Mexico a cowardly
act? Sartre, who publicly opposed many a war, certainly might have sympathized with Garcin's pacifist
leanings. However, we are left wondering to what extent Garcin's political and moral convictions mask a deeper
weakness? And why, exactly, did Garcin choose to flee rather than to expound on his principles at home, where
they might have made a difference?
Hell
Hell is many things in Sartre's play. It is the drawing room into which the three principal characters are taken. It
is the inability to sleep that will afflict them - the prospect of staying awake forever, tormented by the sins of
their pasts. It is a "hell of the mind," and it is, finally, "other people." In the various definitions of hell Sartre and
his characters propose, a pattern emerges: hell is intrinsically tied to existence and to one's idea of oneself. The
key element of "hell" in the play is therefore the absence of mirrors or reflective surfaces. The characters must
rely on each other to create their identities; thus Estelle asks Inèz to describe her beauty, while Inèz begs
Estelle to love her and Garcin begs Inèz to tell him he is no coward. Though they claim at first to want to be
alone, the characters need each other; the play is essentially a map of their thwarted desires, of their inability to
control their own image. It is this inability that paves the way for the climactic paradox: when finally free to
leave, Garcin refuses to do so. It is because of Inèz , he claims, that he must stay. Unable to live with each other
and unable to live without each other, the characters are trapped not just physically, but emotionally and
morally. Hell is both within them and outside of them, and either way, there is no exit.
Time
A month takes a matter of minutes in Sartre's hell. In other words, the relationship between the characters and
the world of the living is perpetually off-balance. When Garcin says that his wife died a month ago, he qualifies
the statement by saying, "Just now." Indeed, a month ago is just now; the characters of the play soar through
time, and even their visions of the world below are only temporary - fleeting images doomed to fade to black,
transient sounds fated to fall silent. It is perhaps ironic that Sartre suggests this kind of temporal structure within
the one-place/one-time dramatic idiom first proposed by the ancient Greeks.
Death
Though the characters are indeed dead, Estelle refuses to recognize it at first. She says she feels just as alive
now as she ever did, and recommends she, Inèz , and Garcin call themselves "absentees." That word has a
strangely hopeful ring, as if implying that the characters have not yet reached the end and will soon enough
return to the living. "Absent" sounds somehow more temporary than "dead" - and yet dead is what they are, as
Inèz emphatically reminds us at the play's close: "Dead! Dead! Dead! Knives, poison, ropes - useless. It has
happened already, do you understand? Once and for all. So here we are, forever."
Love
Love engenders hatred in No Exit. Inèz 's unrequited feelings for Estelle lead her to viciously insult the girl;
Estelle's affection for Garcin digs an even deeper hole into Inèz ; the resultant "love" triangle culminates in
Estelle's botched attempt to kill Inèz . The rapid shift from love to murder is nothing new to Inèz , whose love
for Florence drained any possibility of happiness or hope. "For six months I flamed away in her heart," Inèz
remembers, "till there was nothing but a cinder." She adds: "One night [Florence] got up and turned on the gas
while I was asleep. Then she crept back into bed." Thus do the pangs of romance lead to death. Inèz 's story is a
three-corpse affair: Florence's husband, run over by a tram; Florence, driven to murder and suicide; and Inèz
herself, the catalyst of it all. Estelle's story is likewise a tale of three deaths: her baby, her lover, and herself.
Garcin is doomed, aside from his "cowardice" (if he is indeed a coward), by the love of his wife, whom he
treated without any love at all.
Torture
One of the first remarks Garcin makes upon his entrance into the drawing room is that there are no torture
instruments. As it turns out, Estelle and Inèz provide all the torture Garcin needs. "Hell is - other people," he
proclaims, and indeed the torture he suffers stems from the tensions between him and the two women, as well as
from within himself. When he can no longer stand it, Garcin cries out, in one of the play's most chilling
passages: "I'll endure anything, your red-hot tongs and molten lead, your racks and prongs and garrotes - all
your fiendish gadgets, everything that burns and flays and tears - I'll put up with any torture you impose.
Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and
caresses one and never hurts quite enough."
The Past
Try as they may, the characters of No Exit cannot escape their pasts. Like Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey
Into Night, Sartre's play assembles a small group of characters into a single space and lets them tear away at
each other; just as with O'Neill, the weapon wielded most often and most forcefully is the past: Inèz 's
homosexuality, Estelle's lust, and Garcin's womanizing; Inèz 's Florence, Estelle's man with a hole in his head,
Garcin's tortured wife; Inèz 's cruelty, Estelle's murder of her baby, and Garcin's cowardice. The play itself is
relegated to a perpetual present - a present with no temporal markers, no night and day, no sleep - but the
subject of much of the dialogue is the past and, more precisely, what each character did to ensure his or her
place in hell.