"No Exit" or "Don't Exist": Analyzing the masterpiece of Jean-Paul Satre

Jean-Paul Sartre is a distinguished French philosopher and playwright who almost dedicated his life in developing the theory of existentialism and phenomenology in the twentieth century. Despite his father’s early death, his grandfather introduced him to the world of literature and literature was pleased to have him as one of its pioneers. A bond was formed between young-Sartre and philosophy when he read Henri Bergson’s essay “Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness”. Sartre’s wife, Simone de Beauvoir gave him the inspiration needed as a philosopher, writer and a political activist as well. In 1959, he assured that the French were guilty during the Algerian Revolution. In 1964, Sartre won the Nobel Prize in literature, although he didn’t want to accept it as a media hater. In 1944 (post World War II), he wrote a famous play named “No Exit” from which Sartre placed his concept of Ontology (the study of existence) and the theory of emotions in general. ?

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“No Exit”

“No Exit” is a one act play that consists of four characters only classified into three deadly souls and a torturer. The three souls are Joseph, a journalist, Inez Serrano, a postal clerk and Estelle, a noble woman. The deadly souls had to deal with each other in a way or another for survival inside a locked room, without windows, without mirrors where hotness defined agony. The torturer is an anonymous valet who locks the three souls inside the room with no specific reason. Mainly, Sartre wrote the play to support his famous book “Being and Nothingness” with a subtitle “A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology” published in 1943. Sartre wanted to examine the relative relationship between consciousness and reality, since he was directed by the idea of free will which is a western philosophy in the first place.

?The play was a reflection to his thoughts, and theatre was a wise choice. Sartre succeeded in entertaining the audience with a perfect piece of art; a significant breakthrough of contemporary visual literature. Theatre fans who are not familiar with philosophy or even any branch of human subjects could benefit from the play and understand humanity from a different perspective. Moreover, the play encourages the audience to be rather creative in solving their daily problems.

?Sartre described the room as a simple small lightened room decorated according to the “Second Empire” style, which was a historic French architectural style. The room had no furniture except a “Second Empire” chair, mantelshelf and two sofas, one colored in vivid green and the other is claret-colored. Claret is the red color of French wine. The room was designed to show how calm it was and dreadful at the same time, due to the hot weather for instance. Sartre placed symbols of hell to enhance the grim domain inside the room. The major symbol was the bronze contraption on the mantelpiece. The minor symbols were the ordinary paper-knife, the useless electric bell and the unused toothbrush. Sartre intended to use simple objects but their impact was huge on the mental state of Joseph compared to their size. Joseph expressed his grief ever since he had entered the room and described the hellish objects as “torture instruments” during his dialogue with the valet. The conversation between Joseph and the valet was informative as an introduction. Sartre used that particular discussion before mentioning another element of hell, as it elaborated the mere humanity.

?The eyelids of the valet was a component of torture to Joseph because his eyes were atrophied. He couldn’t see the light even at daytime, and couldn’t blink them as well. The atrophied eyelids pointed towards the gloomy part of Joseph as a character in the form of blindness. The whole weird situation indicated that the upcoming events couldn’t have been in his favor at any chance. Furthermore, Joseph was supposed to be protagonist and Sartre used his confusion to pave the path for the entrance of Inez and Estelle. Now, the audience could expect a heated debate to occur when another stranger enters a terrifying room and get to know someone like him. Sartre combined the physical, yet miserable context of the room with the complex personality of Joseph to complete each other. From a critical aspect, Sartre might have exaggerated in showing grief especially at the start. However, dread was essential to shape the events till its right end.

??The rough entrance of Inez was enough to continue spreading anguish all over the place. She accused Joseph of being the torturer in the room, even before getting to know him. Joseph showed his good intentions to Inez, once she has entered. The tone of his voice changed and he was hoping that his lady-killing uniqueness could make its way forward as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Joseph’s high hopes were taken by the unpleasant chatter about the torturers. On the other hand, Estelle showed her loving and joyful character instantly, but it had been late for Joseph to become optimistic for another moment. The three condemned souls had no choice except expressing their deep thoughts through meaningful quotations. Such feature conducts sympathy amongst the audience as they got involved with their real emotions. Estelle stated that flowers will fade so quickly in the room. Joseph expressed his worry of being a stranger among dead people. Until then, Inez was still tided by her own struggle. Thus, Sartre deliberately combined philosophy with literature.

?Estelle was the only one who showed resistance towards pain and misery, but not for so long. Joseph tried to be the ultimate martyr in front of the two women in order to limit the stress on himself and let time frequently pass. Twelve bullets through the chest because of pacifism wasn’t a bit convincing to an intelligence like Inez. Estelle and Joseph thought that avoiding the exposure of their privacy would be much better for everyone to prevent further variations of embarrassment. Only Inez insisted on extracting each word from them both and expose hers as well. She suggests to shift the sofas as an attempt to change the hideous framework of the room. Moreover, she supposed that the room was meant to be for them and each one acted as the torturer of the other. The audience might conclude that Inez was a desperate bothering individual seeking for long arguments according the rhythm displayed. As a matter of fact, Inez was a strong energetic person who doesn’t like wasting time. She preferred practical solutions. She wanted to get rid of them both quickly, the reason why she was trying to set traps, embarrass and force them to reveal their hidden secrets. Estelle was quite vulnerable as she was the first one to confess. The situation was indeed the key to the play’s progress.

?Estelle explained how she had sacrificed her youth to marry an old man and save her brother from poverty. Pneumonia had ended her life when she refused to run away with her love. The weakness of Estelle was a clue of her innocence. Sartre intended to show the contradiction between women in the society and obviously a playboy like Joseph could have taken advantage of the occasion. Sartre wanted to prove that environment is a predominant foundation of developing relationships. Joseph was desperately pushed to ask for silence for his own sake. Inez directly took advantage of the condition and offered her mirror to Estelle when she demanded. Furthermore, she stated that the economy is in the hands of “man-power” or even “devil-power” like customers who serve themselves in the cafeteria, which was a remarkable line.

?Sartre had great bias for feminism. In accordance, the dark side of Inez approached the inner vulnerability of Estelle to fulfill her desire. Sartre added the mirror to the elements of hell in the play. Inez could feel her tenderness when she tried to seduce Estelle unexpectedly. In other words, the mirror became a reflection of Inez herself. Joseph couldn’t stand by and hear the noise around him without making a statement. He lost his temper completely and told them the ugly truth. Guilt and fear conquered Joseph because he betrayed his wife, while she trusted him. The way he explained how his wife was dying was undeniably horrible, that’s why he couldn’t endure any pressure or conflict during the events. Joseph told Inez that he “regret nothing” to pull himself out of responsibility for committing such infernal crime. Inez’s confession was a clear justification of what she had done since the very beginning. She wasn’t ashamed at all for her actions as a cold cruel woman. Her greed and hatred for men lead to the death of an innocent man. Inez and Florence without a question deserved their fate.

The play’s progress was logic till the confession of Joseph and Inez. Surprisingly, Sartre gave the audience the shocking twist which was a thunderbolt from all perspectives. The angel of the room turned to be the devil somehow. Estelle killed her girl; a resemblance of shame caused by having an affair. Accordingly, the three souls were absolute lunatics. They lied, cheated, killed to be hell agents. Consequently, they slaughtered humanity with every mean possible. The attraction between Joseph and Estelle was barely meaningful. Nonetheless, Inez wanted to stop them from falling in love like what she had done with Florence. Joseph screamed and said the punch-line of the play “HEL IS-OTHER PEOPLE”. The paper knife was useless as the three souls were already dead. Estelle’s behavior proved that nobility comes from actions, not from words or images.

?Sartre wrote a play that emboldens the people to be more aware of their surroundings and cautious in taking the important decisions of their lives. The mindset is also essential in defining someone’s attribute and judgment should be the last step before going too far in any kind of relationship. Jean-Paul Sartre’s message has been delivered.

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References

Fullbrook, Kate, and Edward Fullbrook. Simone De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre: the Remaking of a Twentieth-Century Legend. Basic Books, 1994.

Sartre, Jean-Paul, and Philip Mairet. Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions. Routledge, 2014.

?Sartre, Jean-Paul.?No Exit, and Three Other Plays. Vintage International, 1989.??????????