No Exit

Existentialist philosophy is centered around the idea of choice and freedom. To Existentialists, each person is responsible for creating their own meaning in life, therefore eliminating the idea of larger social constructs. There is no real inherent order on Earth, it is only the “absurd world”. Jean Paul Sartre was a famous existentialist philosopher who used his texts to develop his ideas. In No Exit, Sartre constructs his version of “hell”: a place where people are forced to break with all the semblance of rules in their lives, as a form of highlighting how norms are a construct of the individual. He debates the construction of a popular rhetoric and how this impacts humanity’s ability to develop their own authentic existence. In No Exit,

It gives them a sense of disbelief and emptiness to realize that all of their meaning is created. In the final scene of No Exit, Garcin reflects upon how all the pre-established depictions of hell that they thought of on Earth were “old wives’ tales” , and Estelle attempts to murder Inez by stabbing her, only to realize that there was no way to kill her (Sartre 45). They start laughing and finish the play by sitting down on their respective sofas. In a few lines, Sartre depicts three people completely deconstructing all of their previous certainties. First, Garcin criticizes shared knowledge within their societies. He reflects upon how all of the tales created by religion were actually inventions that had no prior basis. It is an important scene because it already demonstrates that the characters are resignifying meaning by breaking with what they previously believed was true. It also highlights the way that humans give things significance through stories. Then, by being unable to kill Inez, the characters deconstruct the only thing that was seen as undeniable on Earth: that all people are mortal. In this scene, the characters realize the nature of death. Inez states that they “know quite well [she’s] dead”, which seems to completely scare them (Sartre 46). She begins stabbing herself in disbelief,

He creates situations that question sexuality, religion, time, and power, slowly resignifying them. His characters progressively grow to understand the existentialist reality and become embodiments of what it means to truly give up on their comforts. He diminishes the symbols of human society in a way that the characters are forced to create their own imaginings. In the beginning, they struggle to maintain a sense of order that was present on Earth. They grow to start questioning the construction of meaning in human society. Sartre highlights popular imagery as a form of giving reality significance, and how this is directly related to control and order. Society clings to meaning as a way of not feeling powerless. In this form, the hell created in No Exit is a construction of the minds of the three characters and their cultural understanding. With the end of the play, Sartre places them in the purest existentialist state, where they detach themselves from popular imaginings and are free to discover their own thoughts. In a broader sense, No Exit brings the discussion on how shared knowledge is created and disseminated. It is making the reader reflect upon certain things that were seen as unquestionable but were actually a product of a larger cultural construct, that makes the person forget their freedom and