The Existential Theme In No Exit By Jean-Paul Sartre

In the theatrical play No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre, is set in 1944 and has an existential theme popularized by Sartre. This play describes the mysterious adventure of three characters, Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, who are trapped in a room by the Valet. By being trapped in this room, they are forced to confess their crimes. Annette Petrusso, author of “No Exit” an article written about the play, refers to the characters as cowards, or how they lack courage. Even though Petrusso makes a good point about how all of the characters show a cowardly trait, she leaves out the fact that each character becomes less of a coward throughout the play just by being trapped with each other. The setting of the play takes place in a place that could be resembled as purgatory or hell. Garcin, a newspaper editor from Rio de Janeiro, claims that the reason he was persecuted was because he was a pacifist. He was later forced to reveal how he
“He? No, he hadn 't the guts for that. Still, he 'd every reason; we led him a dog 's life. As a matter of fact, he was run over by a tram. A silly sort of end... I was living with them; he was my cousin,” is what Inez had to say in response to Garcin’s question on her affair with Florence (Sartre). Her hatred for men only makes the situation in hell worse because Garcin is there and Inez feels that he is the reason she cannot get to Estelle. According to the Northern Existential Group, a group of people who analyze and discuss the meanings of plays, “Inez quickly realizes that the idea must be that ‘each of us will act as torturer of the other two” (Hell is other people?). According to this quote from the article “Hell is other People” by The Northern Existential Group, Inez does realize that the whole reason they are all together in the room is to tear each other apart and make the others’ lives, literally,