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Jean Paul Sartre No Exit Essay

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In No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre sets a scene with three characters who are placed together in a windowless room in Hell where they are unable to escape from or communicate with anyone outside of the confines. Being placed in a situation where they have no control, yet fully in control of their own behavior, philosophies of existentialism are cornerstones to understanding the metaphorical and symbolic themes of No Exit. Acting as if one has no control over a situation, despite having full control over their ability to choose, is an example of the existential philosophy Bad Faith, that splits the characters into antagonizers or victims. All of the characters display some Bad Faith throughout the play, but Estelle, a woman in love with her reflection, palpably acts in Bad Faith numerous times. …show more content…

Rather than weighing the options or thinking things through, one would say that they only had one option. An example of giving up control is when Estelle was talking about the coincidence that their arrangements in Hell were all planned and the expectations of their torture. “I never could bear the idea of anyone’s expecting something from me. It always made me want to do just the opposite,” (Sartre, Pg 8) was Estelle’s version of giving up her duty and doing something of the opposite. If Estelle were told to move the furniture in the room, she would probably pretend as if she could not or that there is no way to re arrange the furniture in a way that pleases her. This existentialist philosophy is also presented in other characters and how they dealt with their past life on

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In Jean Paul Sartre’s play, “No Exit,” three characters are trapped in a room for all eternity as punishment for their sins on earth. Sartre has filled the text with numerous amazing literary elements, one of which being imagery. In “No Exit,” the letter opener is used by Sartre as an important symbol throughout the text to represent how meaningless the characters’ lives have become and accent the fact that they are truly dead. The letter opener in the play helps Sartre establish a sense of lack of purpose that will be continued throughout the play.

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These can be seen in everyday life, and in popular television shows. This episode of The Golden Girls presented the viewer with Clayton, a man who spent time being for others, and struggled to reveal himself to his sister-who was not very accepting at first, but comes to terms with the situation and reunites with her sibling and friends. The characters take a small journey of acceptance, and while they may not directly speak on the ways that it was existential, or how Sartre can be used to define their story the ladies and Clayton lead the viewers on a road to acceptance that has existential details laced between the lines of their

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In America in the 1940’s society viewed men as the superior gender, despite women slowly gaining more rights. They possessed superiority in job wages, political positions, marriages, and education. Women faced continuous discrimination and inferiority. In Jean Paul-Sartre’s No Exit which takes place in the during this time, different power dynamics are implemented throughout the play. Garcin, a male protagonist, experiences this patriarchal superiority on earth.

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In this essay, I will be exploring what Sartre's had meant in his quote "we have to deal with human reality as a being which is what it is not, and which is not what it is". This paper then will construct arguments on why Sartre's thesis is successful. On the other hand, I will be considering objections against why Sartre's thesis is not successful and why it is flawed. Finally, I will consider how Sartre may respond to the objections that I have made against his thesis. From this, the paper will arrive at the conclusion of that, Sartre's thesis has a valid argument in why his thesis should be accepted even though it has some flaws.

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Self-Absorption and Eternal Punishment Jean Paul Sartre’s one-act theatrical work No Exit tells the story of three souls in Hell, and of the courses in life taken that led to their never-ending anguish. The souls are introduced as follows: Cradeau was a journalist who declared his fervent desire for peace, Estelle was a Parisian socialite who holds great import for beauty and luxury; and Inez is a serious woman who had gotten her way for her entire life. Sartre illustrates the scene of Hell as a small drawing room, constructed with brick walls, that is without any means of escape.

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Scanning through his past several years, he returns to his mother’s death and analyzes her choice to seek a lover at the end of her life. While before he thought it was strange and even somewhat aggravating, he realizes now, being so close to death, that people will enter a desperate search for meaning when their time left is fleeting. But at the same time, he reasons potentially as a coping mechanism, there is no difference whether he dies by execution later that day or in 40 years because he will be dying all the same. Together, these two realizations, though somewhat contradictory, create his bridge to Existentialism. By establishing these two points, he can allow himself to, “open up to the gentle indifference of the world - finding it so much like himself”(122), and apply whatever meaning he wants to life in order to make it as rich and enjoyable as desired, rather than drifting along as a pitiful being waiting for some greater power to guide him along.

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