Sartres Hell

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“Existence precedes essence”. These words describe a philosophy called existentialism. This term comes from a French philosopher called Jean Paul Sartre. Existentialism has been described as a philosophical movement especially of the 20th century. A true existentialist will create their own beliefs, take responsibility for his or her own actions, and is very honest. If they were to do something wrong, they would take responsibility for their actions and not make any excuses. Furthermore, a true existentialist believes there is no God and thus man becomes alone with only ourselves as a guide to making the decisions that defines our existence.

Sartre wrote “No Exit” where he portrayed his philosophy negatively. The author attempts to describe his version of what hell is, a subject that many have pondered, but non really know. Sartre voiced his thoughts through the characters of his play, Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. The three main characters in this play create the hell they where banished to by hurting each other in a disturbed form of love triangle, where the love isn’t really there. In this triangle Inez is attracted to Estelle, who in turn needs a man such as Garcin to desire and notice her. This Garcin can hurt Inez by pretending to desire Estelle, or hurt Estelle by not caring. Garcin however, will never be at rest until Inez recognizes that he is not a coward. Garcin needs that reassurance.

When Garcin remarks that, “Hell is other people” Sartre is having Garcin restate his own view on humanity. Sartre believes that the fate of humankind is to torment and be tormented by others with whom we live. Sartre’s hell is merely a system of exploitation as Inez observes it as “an economy of manpower” (p. 17). His hell is the same as society, where it exploits those who exist in it and fill their lives with suffering and meaninglessness. The fact that Garcin can look down to earth is furthermore torture. It is ...