Faith In Jean-Pail Sartre's No Exit

The Great Divorce, by C.S Lewis and Inferno by Dante Alighieri, are great works that describe in significant detail the souls living in hell and how they got there. Lewis and Dante both portray to the reader how to attain Gods salvation by presenting the choices people make and what happens to them when they either become saved or reject God. The books have a distinct parallel between them. This parallel is found in the characters that reside in all nine circles of hell, and the different ghosts found on the bus traveling through heaven. Lewis and Dante characters are extremely similar and this essay will compare those exact characters.

The Inferno is a tale of cautionary advice. In each circle, Dante the pilgrim speaks to one of the shades that reside there and the readers learn how and why the damned have become the damned. As Dante learns from the mistakes of the damned, so do the readers. And as Dante feels the impacts of human suffering, so do the readers. Virgil constantly encourages Dante the pilgrim to learn why the shades are in Hell and what were their transgressions while on Earth. This work’s purpose is to educate the reader. The work’s assertions on the nature of human suffering are mostly admonition, with each shade teaching Dante the pilgrim and by extension the reader not to make the same mistakes. Dante views his journey through hell as a learning experience and that is why he made it out alive.

No exit, a play by Jean-Paul Sartre describes hell as a state of being, “hell is other people.” Garcin, Inez and Estelle all strangers to each other and from different parts of the world are put into a room together. Inez, Estelle, and Garcin exist in Hell to torment each other. As the layers of contemptibility are torn far from every one of them, they are uncovered and helpless before the others. Unexpectedly, Inez wants Estelle, who frantically wants Garcin. Garcin wants nothing to do with either of them, however frantically needs their assurance, particularly that of Inez, which is never to be given. Inez thoroughly hates Garcin because he hinders her from having Estelle. In a like way, Estelle

No Exit is a French satire play written by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1944. The play takes place in hell with three unfortunate souls, Estelle, Inez, and Cradeau, as the main characters, with the only other character being a boy who shows them to their room where they spend all of eternity. The three characters accurately demonstrate the upper, middle, and lower classes of society. In society they are used to behaving certain ways based on class, called social norms. These social norms are an ideology, which is a belief system, created by society’s cultural conditioning over a lifetime. Once locked in a room with nothing but three chairs and a fireplace, the three characters are forced to live without social norms. Without these monitored behaviors, their identities fade away exposing their deep fears and thoughts.

Psychological suffering versus physical torture is one of the central themes in No Exit by French playwright Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre’s famous quote that “hell is other people” (45) is illustrated through the interactions among Garcin, Inez and Estelle. Through psychological suffering the characters’ self-destructive flaws are revealed which ultimately emphasizes how each of them are responsible for their own fate. The characters have the freedom of will to help redeem each other but choose not to. To subtly reinforce the theme, even the style of the play is psychologically wearing on the audience.

One of the many subjects all societies struggle with - and will continue to struggle with for the foreseeable future - is the dispute over whether Heaven and Hell actually exist and what those popular ideologies entail. While the better part of people agree that Heaven is simply a pleasant setting for everyone, Hell seems to have considerably more variations of suffering depending on how it’s portrayed by the media. In most TV shows, movies, and books, we see torture and raging flames and unending physical agony. In Dante’s epic poetry, “Inferno”, souls suffer based solely on what they did in life with the most severe punishment possible taking place in a freezing cold atmosphere. But in Jean-Paul Sartre’s play, “No Exit”, the main theme of

Eternal damnation, lake of fire and brimstone, and Gehenna are some of the various words used to describe the concept of Hell as understood in the Christian faith. In many contemporary churches the pulpit has become a place considered improper and not suitable for the discussion of hell. And understandably so due to the ongoing the deliberation over the nature of eternal damnation being compatible with the concept of God. The traditional concept of hell conveys that a person who does not accept salvation through faith in Christ will endure “eternal misery in separation from God” (Walls). The established belief for the reason of the existence of hell is human defiance against God’s initial perfect arrangement. Proceeding with God engaging in an immense act of sacrifice in order to restore with his creation a loving communion. Those who refused God’s love are thought to dwell in eternal condemnation. The divide concerning the concept of hell is whether a loving God who desires reconciliation with all his people can still condemn someone eternally. Both scholars, Jerry Walls and Thomas Talbott, acknowledge the perfect loving nature of God and his desire for reconciliation with all people. As stated above, where they differ is in the actual fulfillment of God’s desire. Walls argues that through libertarian freedom, the tradition of eternal hell is consistent with the concept of God. Talbott, on the other hand, disagrees and counters the claim with the belief of universal

Robert Herrick, an English poet, once said, “Hell is no other but a soundlesse pit, where no one beame of comfort peeps in it.” Picture any type of Hell with relief, happiness, or even the smallest crack of a smile. There is no place. In fact, one can only think of the complete opposite, whether it is a Hell filled with neglect, pain, disgust, or a never-ending life of horror. This is the place created by Dante Alighieri; The Inferno is exactly the type of Hell where no person would want to be. Even those who acted upon the lightest of sins suffered greatly. While each realm contained a different sinner, the punishment that each were forced to face was cruel, repulsive, and sometimes rather disgusting. Through grieving tears without an

The backbone of the characters in Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit consists of the concept of bad faith and subjection. Bad faith is essentially self-deception. Sartre views existentialism as being completely free and responsible at the same time. When one realizes his freedom, he becomes scared of his power. By deceiving oneself into thinking one is not completely free, one delves into bad faith. It can range from religion to sex to morality. Subjection is apparent as well. The play depicts three characters,Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, who have all been sent to Hell because of their crimes on the Earth. They all struggle to deal with themselves and each other in Hell. These characters are all victims of bad faith and overreliance on others for self validation.

As the lives of Garcin, Inez and Estelle continue in Hell, their main torments are the things that they were never able to achieve on Earth. Due to the consequences of their actions, they eternally suffer in Hell. This presents a contrasting view to one aspect of existentialism, something which Sartre was heavily affiliated with. If there were no consequences, on what grounds would people be sent to Hell? This new view brings to light the absurdity of life that Sartre surely wanted to make

In his play, No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre examines basic themes of existentialism through three characters. The first subject, Garcin, embraces existentialist ideas somewhat. The second character, Inez, seems to fully understand ideas deemed existential. Estelle is the third person, and does not seem to understand these ideas well, nor does she accept them when they are first presented to her. One similarity amongst the three is that they all at some point seem to accept that they are in Hell for a reason.

Much of what is perceived as a Christian Hell is written into the play. Within the first few pages the Valet explains how everyone asks about the torture chamber when the first arrive. This explains what kinds of background the characters would have on the ideas of Hell. As person enters this room they claim to

Hell. The four lettered word that trembles in the throats of men and children alike; The images of suffering, flame pits and blood, the smell of burning flesh, the shrieking of those who have fallen from grace. For centuries man has sought out ways to cleanse his soul, to repent for his sins and possibly secure his passage into paradise, all evoked by the fear of eternal damnation and pain. The early 20th century philosopher and existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre saw life as an endless realm of suffering and a complete void of nothingness. His pessimistic ideals of life followed through to his beliefs on death, as death for him was a final nothingness. If death was a final nothingness, Sartre's view of hell was really a final

Being human takes many qualities, in which many are good and many are bad. In the play No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, it shows one way in how we are human. By being human we are a hell to someone else. We all behave and have certain actions that causes people to hate and despise you. By being hell to someone it means annoying them, antagonize them, always talking about yourself, and always wanting to be around them and following them. In the play is shows that Estelle was obsessed with herself and was always talking about herself, to the point that Garcin had enough of her and just wanted leave. They realize in the end that they were all an experiment that shows that being around people is hell, much rather than getting

The play No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre is about three people that die and go to hell. Joseph Garcin, a journalist executed by a firing squad for trying to desert during a war; Inez Serrano, a post-office clerk murdered by her lover which left a gas stove on while she slept; and Estelle Rigault, a woman who married an older rich man and died due to pneumonia. They all expected physical torture in hell. However, all they found was a plain room with some furniture that always had the light on, no windows, no beds, nothing that would reflect or work as a mirror. The three of them were trapped inside the room. After discussing among themselves, they confessed their crimes and deduced that the torture was psychological. They also realized that they had been placed together so that each of them was to become the torturer of the other two. Each character began to ask things from the others to fulfill a need they all had, which only led them to more despair. Due to this, Garcin concluded that “hell is other people” (pag26). A. Petrusso argues in his article “No Exit” that the three main characters of the play have in common a display of cowardice. Certainly, all of them seem to be cowards at some moment and one character exhibits it more than the others. He also argues that certain actions and behaviors are merely the cowardice of the character when in fact, it rather seems more like fear. The examples and arguments used by Petrusso seem to simply catalog the main characters as