No Exit - Sartre: "Hell Is Other People"
Hell is Other People
“Only in the self can the drama of truth occur. A crowd is untruth.” - Kierkegaard
On a literal level, Sartre’s play, “No Exit”, is an account of three individuals
damned to a hell unlike any other. The first and only Act opens upon the arrival of
Garcin. He is escorted by a valet into a room furnished with Second-Empire furniture
where he shall be spending the rest of his eternal existence. The valet, the only other
character besides the occupants of this room, is amused by Garcin’s pre-conceived notion
of hell. Garcin observes there are no mirrors, nor anything breakable in the room. He
then shouts that they should have at least allowed him his “damn toothbrush!” The valet
is further amused by this outburst, pointing out that every single “guest” inquires about
the torture chamber, and then once they’ve gotten over the initial shock, they start asking
for their toothbrushes and what-not. He assures Garcin that he’ll have no need for his
toothbrush here, nor sleep, and advises him to forego his “sense of human dignity”.
While trying to come to terms with his situation, Garcin is disturbed by the valet’s
lidless eyes and parallels his perpetual sight to his own perpetual consciousness. “So
that’s the idea, I am to live without eyelids….No eyelids, no sleep; it follows, doesn’t it?
I shall never sleep again. But then - how shall I endure my own company?” (After
rereading the play for a second time, this seems the most ironic bit because Garcin is
Liedtke 2
unaware at this point that this room IS his torture chamber, and the other occupants are
his torturers, and there will be no escaping them; not even in sleep.)
When left alone, Garcin quickly grows impatient and begins repeatedly ringing
the bell which is supposedly meant to summon the valet. However, it doesn’t seem to be
working so he gives up. The door then opens and the valet is accompanied this time by
a woman named Inez.
“Only in the self can the drama of truth occur. A crowd is untruth.” - Kierkegaard
On a literal level, Sartre’s play, “No Exit”, is an account of three individuals
damned to a hell unlike any other. The first and only Act opens upon the arrival of
Garcin. He is escorted by a valet into a room furnished with Second-Empire furniture
where he shall be spending the rest of his eternal existence. The valet, the only other
character besides the occupants of this room, is amused by Garcin’s pre-conceived notion
of hell. Garcin observes there are no mirrors, nor anything breakable in the room. He
then shouts that they should have at least allowed him his “damn toothbrush!” The valet
is further amused by this outburst, pointing out that every single “guest” inquires about
the torture chamber, and then once they’ve gotten over the initial shock, they start asking
for their toothbrushes and what-not. He assures Garcin that he’ll have no need for his
toothbrush here, nor sleep, and advises him to forego his “sense of human dignity”.
While trying to come to terms with his situation, Garcin is disturbed by the valet’s
lidless eyes and parallels his perpetual sight to his own perpetual consciousness. “So
that’s the idea, I am to live without eyelids….No eyelids, no sleep; it follows, doesn’t it?
I shall never sleep again. But then - how shall I endure my own company?” (After
rereading the play for a second time, this seems the most ironic bit because Garcin is
Liedtke 2
unaware at this point that this room IS his torture chamber, and the other occupants are
his torturers, and there will be no escaping them; not even in sleep.)
When left alone, Garcin quickly grows impatient and begins repeatedly ringing
the bell which is supposedly meant to summon the valet. However, it doesn’t seem to be
working so he gives up. The door then opens and the valet is accompanied this time by
a woman named Inez.
Cited: Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980): Existentialism, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 10 Jan. 2006 http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/sartre-ex.htm Kamber, Richard. On Sartre. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. New York: New Direction Publishing Corporations, 1964.