Sartre's

A detailed Summary of Sartre's

In the play No Exit, Sartre examines the question of existence and essence through the actions of Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. Since they have all recently died, they must confront the existence of their consciousness as their physical bodies are buried on earth. Using each individual's consciousness and the "other" part of him/herself that observes that consciousness, Sartre creates a situation where each character must ignore or accept the judgment of the other two. For example, when they first meet, Inez says that Garcin's mouth looks grotesquely frightened. Since there are no mirrors, Garcin must decide if Inez is right or what he thinks himself is right. In this case, Garcin believes Inez rather than his own judgment. He lets her define his essence, or personal characteristics, and thus, in Sartre's definition, has "bad faith."

Sartre uses 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 conti

Garcin turns out to have the worst case of "bad faith" of all three characters in the play. He can't decide on his own that he is not coward, but will only believe it if Estelle says so herself. He is given the chance to leave the room, but doesn't. Even though he later says that he made his choice "deliberately" and that a man is what he "wills himself to be," Garcin still says 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 Inez 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 Inez 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 h

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Approximate Word count = 1154
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English