LAQ's "No Exit"

General

1) "No Exit" is a play about what Hell truly is according to the French writer Jean Paul Sartre. He sets the play in a room lacking windows and personal grooming utensils. Garcin, Inez and Estelle find themselves locked up in this room. They know they are dead yet they can still see what goes on in their lives. At first everyone is filled with confusion and no one has the courage to confess the reason why they were sent to hell. But the truth is eventually uncovered. Inez had slept with her cousins wife, Garcin had run away form "justice" and Estelle had killed her unwanted child. As these truths were uncovered so were the true personalities of each person. They soon understood the reason behind their grouping. Each one had the other two as polar opposites or enemies. Each one was surrounded by two "torturers." The people in that locked room would make Hell itself.

2) People make Hell. We create what Hell is. It is a place filled with the most disgusting of beings and once you find yourself in this place you start to realize you to form part of this repugnant group of people. All your sins are uncovered and you learn of others. You being to distrust those accompanying you in this locked room of putrid. insanity catches up to you and those around you and now you find yourself in a room with the the most hateful of people and slowly losing your sanity.

3) Sartre creates a tone of confusion that slowly morphs into one of clarity. From the very beginning the three individuals in hell no nothing of what comes next. They have the idea that Hell is a place of torture and pain but are quickly drowned in a state of confusion when nothing happens. Slowly they begin to learn of one another and the reasons for their sending to Hell becomes apparent. Each one was guilty of committing intolerable sins. At the end it ll becomes clear for they have fallen into the trap of Hell itself. They themselves create a Hell they cannot escape for they are Hell itself.

4) Sartre does a vidvi description of his setting. "No mirrors, I notice. No windows. Only to be expected. And nothing breakable." This comes to show the simplicity of the room the three individuals find themselves in. A room where all you could use as entertainment are you very own thoughts. The very same thoughts that drove them to madness. We also see the use of indirect characterization through each person. Estelle shows an arrogant attitude toward the others and everyone in her life for that matter. "Please Mr.Garcin!......You're sitting on my sofa......I was setting my life in order. You may laugh but you'd do better to follow my example." Inez is cruel. She says things as they are. She informs the others of their true fate. Garçon is "introspective." He reflects on the reasons for his being sent to Hell. He slowly realized he's a coward and nothing more. The tone is one of mystery. From the very beginning the characters know where they are and deep inside they know why. It is unknown to the audience until they continue reading. The audience becomes aware of the situation for the three characters and it all becomes clear.

Characterization

1) Sartre doesn't seem to use direct characterization throughout the play. He focuses on the usage of indirect characterization. He has each character describe the sin that had them sent to Hell. Each sin describes the personalities of the characters. Inez is cold and cruel. She is the one who breaks the news to the group about them themselves being the "torturers." She live under the same roof that his uncle and his wife lived under. She ran away with her not caring about her cousin. Estelle killed her child because she didn't want to ruin her perfect life with her husband. She wasn't about to leave him for a poor man who had gotten her pregnant. Garcin was fighting the wrong battle for the right reasons and when things got out of hand he became what he was from the start, a coward. He also hurt his wife emotionally and physically and she took it all in without a single complaint.

2) The diction changes completely when Sartre goes from one character to another. Each character is completely different from the other two. This I part of what helps create their Hell. Estelle has a proper way of speaking. She was from Paris and her husband was well off. Garcin speaks like any man of his condition. He doesn't seem to have any trace of respect for women for he was unable to treat is own woman right. Inez is just obsessive. She wants Estelle for herself and the sight of her with Garcin hurts her. She yells and speaks aloofly no matter what it is she is speaking about.

3) The three protagonists seem to be dynamic characters but they are actually static as far as the audience knows. They committed terrible sins and were sent to Hell for it but they don't regret it. They start knowing about their sins and end up revealing them but they don't change their personalities or seem to regret the sins committed.

4) These three characters didn't seem to be like anyone I would know but they do seem like people I could possibly meet in the future. The sims they committed are things that people out of their minds actually do. Of course the story and setting itself is unrealistic and not capable of existing in real life. Estelle killed her child and women who cannot handle a child take the easy way and kill or abandon it. People I would surround myself with wouldn't take such an abominable action.