To Jean Paul-Sartre, “hell is other people”. In Sartre’s play No Exit, three damned souls, Inez, Cradeau, and Estelle are greeted with a hell in which their eternal torment is a psychological struggle brought on by each other. Estelle and Cradeau surrender their identity to others because they cannot let go of the past. Inez lives in the present, but suffers the same fate. Because hell is devoid of material objects, the characters are forced to choose between relying on each other or their own opinions of self to define their identity, proving that hell is not a physical place, but rather a state of mind.
Sartre’s philosophy of “bad faith”, or self-deception, is revealed through character interactions. Having just arrived in hell, Estelle and the other two characters, Inez and Cradeau, ponder over hell and their death, but Estelle, frightened, suggests “[they’ve] never been so alive as much as [they] are now”(15). Ironically, Estelle presents herself to the others as delicate, becoming faint at the mention of death, when she is really a murderess. Even though Estelle is already in hell and can receive no greater punishment, she still claims her residence in hell is a mistake and that she may even still be alive. Estelle’s refusal to admit why she is in hell and her faked meekness work to allow Sartre to comment on the nature of self-deception. One who lies to one’s self is refusing to accept his/her own life and therefore must create lies or look to other external sources for validation, or to Sartre “bad faith”. Estelle’s self-identity is challenged by her rampant inclination to lie even to herself, which is created by fear. Having been in an empty room called hell, Estelle begins to panic, because “when [she] can’t see [herse...
... middle of paper ...
...nd existence are dependent on others’ pain, so she is also guilty of “bad faith”, relying on others for identity. She believes herself to be completely autonomous, but is defined by others, so she is just as guilty of self-deception as Estelle and Cradeau.
As a humanist, Sartre believed that people reach their full education through literature. Fittingly, he dispensed his philosophies through literature, such as the play No Exit. Sartre especially defines his ideas on identity and existence, since Inez, Estelle, and Cradeau have “bad faith” and cannot exist without an external force to define them. Like Estelle without a mirror, Cradeau cannot exist without other people’s judgment, and Inez cannot exist without others’ suffering. The isolated hell Sartre defines is largely mental, because there is no physical torment, only the struggle of defining one’s identity.
In his essay “Existentialism”, Jean Paul Sartre discusses the main beliefs of existentialism. Perhaps the most important belief of existentialism is that there is no human nature, and there is no God. This means that each individual man has control of his own destiny. The definition of each individual man is the sum of his life and all he has accomplished in his life. He is also responsible for all the choices and actions he makes in his life. These types of choices and actions can be seen in the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel. This book is a story about a boy, Wiesel, who is taken to a concentration camp with his family. It follows him and his father through their trials and movement from Auschwitz to Burkenau, and to Buna and how they continue to narrowly escape death. By the end of the story, readers see how Wiesel has become indifferent to the horrors of the camps. From the beginning to this point in the book, Wiesel and other characters make decisions that Sartre would call existentialist.
Jean Paul Sartre's philosophy is one of the most popular systems of thought in the school called existentialism. Sartre valued human freedom and choice, and held it in the highest regard. To be able to live an authentic existence, one must take responsibility for all the actions that he freely chooses. This total freedom that man faces often throws him into a state of existential anguish, wherein he is burdened by the hardship of having to choose all the time. Thus, there ensues the temptation for man to live a life of inauthenticity, by leaning on preset rules or guidelines, and objective norms. This would consist the idea of bad faith.
is exemplified in No Exit. It is a portrayal that life in Hell is just
...ards monstrous figures and sympathy towards those who seem to be tortured unjustly. In his perverse education, with instruction from Virgil and the shades, Dante learns to replace mercy with brutality, because sympathy in Hell condones sin and denies divine justice. The ancient philosopher Plato, present in the first level of Hell, argues in The Allegory of the Cave that truth is possible via knowledge of the Form of the Good. Similarly, Dante acquires truth through a gradual understanding of contrapasso and the recognition of divine justice in the afterlife. Ultimately, Dante recognizes that the actions of the earthly fresh are important because the soul lives on afterwards to face the ramifications. By expressing his ideas on morality and righteousness, Dante writes a work worth reading, immortalizes his name, and exalts the beliefs of his Christian audience.
Three people, trapped in a lavish room, and stuck together for all of eternity. The only communication any of them can have is with the other members in this room. Not bad, right? Wrong. These three people exemplify one another’s imperfections and create a high level of torment with one another. Welcome to hell. Literally, this is the view of hell according to Jean-Paul Sartre in his play, “No Exit.” The characters are unknowingly alone, in terms of finding betterment within inner selves. The only thing the other people in the room create is anguish for one another. The epitome is although these characters are truly not alone, each is lonely and the hell in this is a timeless never ending torture in one another dragging each of themselves into furthered grief and despair. What is hell then? Simply, it is our current living. Sartre is clear in saying “hell is other people” (Sartre 45). The repulsiveness of human nature makes us all infinitely empty and it is something that is inescapable. Depression and loneliness are simple byproducts of acceptance of the ugliness of our world at least according to Sartre. Even if the concept of “hell is other people” is refuted, it does not place one’s own inner nature. Regardless, “No Exit” holds a message of being forever alone at least to achieve a state of happiness. Therefore, loneliness must be examined in three scopes sadness, love, and communication as to understand the purpose of this life, which John G. Mcgraw addresses in his article, “God and the Problem of Loneliness.”
“No Exit,” by Jean-Paul Sartre, is a play that illustrates three people’s transitions from wanting to be alone in Hell to needing the omnipresent “other” constantly by their sides. As the story progresses, the characters’ identities become more and more permanent and unchangeable. Soon Inez, Garcin, and Estelle live in the hope that they will obtain the other’s acceptance. These three characters cannot accept their existentialist condition: they are alone in their emotions, thoughts and fears. Consequently, they look to other people to give their past lives and present deaths meaning. Forever trapped in Hell, they are condemned to seek the other for meaning in their lives; even when given the chance to exit the room, the characters choose to stay with each other instead of facing uncertainty and the possibility of being detached from the stability of their relationships with the others. Without other people, the characters would have no reason to exist. Each characters’ significance depends on the other’s opinion of them; Garcin needs someone to deny his cowardliness, Inez yearns for Estelle’s love, and Estelle just wants passion with no commitment. This triangle of unending want, anguish and continual disillusionment because of the other is precisely Sartre’s definition of pure Hell.
ABSTRACT: This paper critically examines the way in which Sartre dealt with the problem of alterity in his early works, proposing that Sartre presented an unsatisfactory account of alterity in his first philosophical work entitled The Transcendence of the Ego, though his study of imagination offers ample opportunities to re-examine the question of alterity and to arrive at a more adequate formulation of the way in which the self relates to the other. I therefore begin by demonstrating that the Transcendence of the Ego perpetuates the Cartesian tradition where the self is defined primarily in terms of thinking-that is, self-consciousness and immanence. Next, I turn to the Sartrean Psychology of Imagination to find another way of conceptualizing the problem. I inquire into his general theory of the imaginary consciousness defined as a 'picture consciousness' and argue that it reduces the alterity of the imaginary object to sheer absence. As such, the theory of imagination does not allow us to bring the fundamental character of alterity to light. Still, we uncover a more adequate way of dealing with alterity in the context of the imaginary life. I show that the notion of the 'picture itself' allows us to conceptualize alterity as the radical withdrawal of the other. Finally, I make evident that the imaginary subject is necessarily divided between itself and itself as another and due to that internal split, can grasp the alterity of another person.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
Dante feels hell is a necessary, painful first step in any man’s spiritual journey, and the path to the blessed after-life awaits anyone who seeks to find it, and through a screen of perseverance, one will find the face of God. Nonetheless, Dante aspires to heaven in an optimistic process, to find salvation in God, despite the merciless torture chamber he has to travel through. As Dante attempts to find God in his life, those sentenced to punishment in hell hinder him from the true path, as the city of hell in Inferno represents the negative consequences of sinful actions and desires. Though the punishments invariably fit the crimes of the sinners and retributive justice reigns, the palpable emphasis of fear and pity that Dante imbues on the transgressors illustrates his human tendency to feel sympathy towards one who is suffering. For example, when Dante approaches the gat...
...e’s theory relies upon his belief that because there is no creator, human beings have no essence, and so they are “left alone, without excuse” and “born without reason.” He says that people realize this “the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.” Similarly, White too admits to Black that he has always hated life and that when he realized that religion was just a “guise,” his hatred turned into boredom (138). White’s skepticism about life and God echoes throughout the play and through the suicidal choice that White makes even before the dialogue begins. Comparably, Father Vincent Minceli voices similar concerns about Sartre, concluding that Sartre’s philosophy leads directly to despair and suicide. McCarthy’s comparison of White and Sartre is remarkable, as both are not only atheists, but also convey life’s useless nature through using synonymous phrases.
John Paul Sartre is known as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He wrote many philosophical works novels and plays. Much of his work is tied into politics. The essay Existentialism is a Humanism is just one of his many works. Existentialism is a Humanism is a political essay that was written in 1945. Its purpose was to address a small public during World War II in Nazi occupied France. This essay stressed the public not to conform. Sartre introduced a great number of philosophical concepts in Existentialism. Two of these concepts are anguish and forlornness. They are simply defined, as anguish is feeling responsible for yourself as well as others and knowing that your actions affect others and forlornness is realizing that you are alone in your decisions. These two concepts are interwoven throughout the essay and throughout many of Sartre's other works. Sartre's view of anguish and forlornness in Existentialism is a Humanism addresses his view of life and man.
Man goes through life, waking each day and participating in his own existence without truly existing. He is always in search of a greater meaning, and in the process fails to find one as he is on a constant search for something that cannot be grasped by the normality that is the human psyche. A similar example can be found in the capitalistic work force of modern day. Man works the majority of his life, always training and aiming for more, only to retire and live on a portion of what he was making. During his time working he lost out on his family, his sleep, often times his own enjoyment, for an ideal that often times is never achieved. This is a trivial situation, yet it is painted in a rather angelic light in our society. Why is it, then, that Sartre can be dismissed as trivial when trivialities exist in nearly every day to day life? Quite likely, this is because Existentialism is an “on-paper theory” so to speak, and in theory is looks quite differently than in reality. Man, as in this case, does not realise that he often follows the rules which he opposes. In addition, much of today’s society exists under a form of organized religion, a society with which Existentialism exists in
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!” (No Exit, 45). Hell is other people in many situations. There are seven billion and counting people on earth, all with an incomprehensible amount of freedom. This infinite amount of freedom varies from person to person, one may have a different view on freedoms that one should have, depending on many factors, and because of this many things are viewed differently, this causes hell. These varying in freedoms and what one views as right and wrong can be affected by those one gives authority, such as Garcin and Estelle. Those who are similar to Inez, that face their actions, are seen as ones that creating hell, because they refuse to conform. Within existentialism, the reason why hell is other people is because of
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
Sartre is one of the constructors of the philosophy of existence that is existentialism. Humans must first be born and exist before they are able to define their essence. He states that there is no universal statement about what humans are. But, there is one overall statement about the circumstances that make us human, which is that we are free. He believes that when we have to make decisions nothing is forcing us to do what we are doing. Which leads to the idea that humans have to take full responsibility for our actions, beliefs and emotions. By being aware that we are free, the responsibility of this can cause “anguish” according to Sartre. One of the most painful thoughts can be that we alone are totally responsible for what happens to us. To avoid the pain of some of the bad decisions we make people can act as if they had no choice and may pretend that they are not free which would make them not responsible. When you act like you were not free and are not responsible is known as having bad faith. That is humans try to convince themselves that outside forces, forces that are beyond control or our conscious mental state helped determine the decisions we made.