No Exit

Sartre and the existentialists claim that people are their actions. We create meaning from our behavior, but so do others observing us.

Garcin, Inez, and Estelle spend most of their time looking at one another. Their inability to sleep or blink in the afterlife, as well as the play’s one act structure, emphasize looking without pause or rest. The characters must regard one another constantly. Garcin hides his eyes behind his hands, but even if he and the others aren’t looking literally, they can’t escape awareness of one another. After the three characters take a vow of silence and vow not to look at one another, Inez exclaims: “To forget about the others? How utterly absurd! I feel you there, in every pore. Your silence clamors in my ears” (23). Sartre uses Inez to clarify that the Look is not just literally looking, but being aware of the presence of others, who are aware of you. The Look is a reflexive cycle: When Garcin is looking at and aware of Inez, Inez is looking at and aware of Garcin.

Subjectivity is the philosophical quality of having internal thoughts, feelings, and self-reflection. If something is subjective, a being creates and interprets it. Whether or not one likes a piece of art is a subjective experience, as well as how one thinks of one’s own actions. Objectivity is the philosophical quality of existing out in the world, outside of a subjective consciousness. A red ball is an objective thing that exists in reality: We can all look at it and understand that it is a red ball, though we might have different thoughts and feelings associated with red balls.

Sartre noticed an interesting quality that comes from viewing the world as a split between the subjective and the objective: If we look at other people (other subjectivities), they become objects in our view when we contemplate them. This means that no subjective experience is wholly subjective and self-determined since it is always open to being scrutinized by others.

Garcin believes himself to be a hero and experiences this subjectively. He wanted to escape the war draft and write an influential pacifist newspaper that would determine the war’s course. Whenever his attention is pulled back to Earth, his former coworkers are discussing his cowardice. From the afterlife, he is aware that they’re looking at him and discussing him as an object that exists in the world. The supernatural awareness of being looked at and treated as an object represents the shock Sartre believes the subjective being experiences when treated as an object.

Garcin begs Estelle to look at him and proclaim he is not a coward. Inez proclaims him a coward and Estelle also admits he may be a coward. When viewed through Sartre’s concept of the Look, No Exit becomes a series of scenes in which two characters look at the third and judge them as an object existing in relation to their own subjectivities. The character being judged often cannot cope with the look of the other two, even if it offers them insight into who they are.

Estelle cannot handle the conflict between her objective and subjective selves. Her inability to cope with the split makes her desire Garcin’s sexual/romantic attraction above anything else. Estelle believes a man’s attention would allow her to reassert the internal, subjective self that she wishes to be on the outside. She views herself as a high society woman, one capable of attracting men as she pleases. She is a “little sparrow” that has fallen out of men’s hearts once Peter forgets about her; being in men’s hearts is central to her self-image, and she needs others to fulfill this part of her subjective sense of self (34). Garcin cannot or will not play this role, and suggests she seek comfort from Inez. Estelle, who wants to realize her internal sense of self, can’t cope with Garcin’s rejection.

Through Inez, Sartre further explores the subjective versus the objective self. Inez’s monologues often bear a resemblance to Sartre’s work in “Existentialism Is a Humanism” and Being and Nothingness. She is the one character who provides little excuse for her actions. She has molded her internal sense of self to external perceptions, which has removed the anxiety that the other two carry. She calls them all “criminals” and proclaims herself to be cruel and sadistic. She is at ease with how others view her. She is also the first to admit that she intrinsically needs others when she says, “when I’m alone I flicker out” (27). However, she is not immune to being tormented by the other two. In the final third of the play, Estelle makes sexual advances toward Garcin for the sole sake of hurting Inez, whom she fears. Garcin joins in for the same reason. Inez, a lesbian with a stated interest in Estelle, is still hurt despite claiming to be cruel and heartless.

In No Exit, Sartre examines our constant need for others. The subjective self can’t resolve or have conviction without reinforcement through the objective self that others create. Garcin calls for each of them to stay silent so that they can seek their “salvation” (18). He represents the rationalist for whom thought is self-sufficient and the only means to finding peace. Sartre represents the demand for thought above all else as isolating and unobtainable. Estelle and Inez always break his silence. Garcin’s rationalism does not allow him to determine whether he is a hero or a coward. He needs others to reflect his actions and life events back to him.

When the door opens in the final few pages, he stays because he needs the other two to make sense of himself. His plan of self-reflection fails. Estelle stays because she needs Garcin to reinforce her own image as a desirable and conventionally successful woman. She is “fearfully fascinated” by what she sees in Inez when Inez gazes at her, implying that Estelle fears her own attraction to Inez. Inez also needs the two of them, despite their efforts to torment her. Missing her former lover Florence, she feels drawn to Estelle. She and Garcin feel that the two of them have much in common, implying that Inez stays due to a sense of camaraderie with Garcin. Each character needs the other two to fully understand their self.

For Sartre, the conflict between the subjective and objective self is a source of great anxiety. Each character looks at the others and creates objective versions of them. At the same time, they know that the other is gazing back at them and making them an object . The characters need affirmation from one another, but are unable to cope with how the others view them. By having each character stay after wanting to escape, Sartre suggests that we need the agitating presence of others to really know ourselves.