No Exit and Three Other Plays
by Jean-Paul Sartre
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No Exit is a one-act play about three people trapped in a single locked room depicted as hell. It’s both ironic and scary at the same time if you think about it. After reading No Exit, I came to a conclusion of what Satre’s idea of Hell was: Hell is other people. But I believe Satre’s hell does make sense; he uses people’s fears to construct Hell. I rather be stabbed or burned for eternity than live in the same room as two people I can’t stand. Also, the situation the three people are...more
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More an illustration of Existentialist concepts than a true drama; still the one-act play about 2 women and a man in hell, coming to terms with their own lack of self concept, or their dependency on others for a sense of self is intellectually interesting (and very quick read). Existentialism was always so empowering to me, but in this play, it seems more nihilistic or fatalistic than I recall. And the fact that it takes place in hell, after the three main characters have died, strikes me as mor...more
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"No Exit" is a brilliant dramatization of Sartre's philosophical concern with the Other: how the gaze of the Other (other people) affects us, damns us, and creates us. It is a portrait of the hell that can ensue when someone abdicates from the responsibility to create themselves and instead allows others to create his identity. I would recommend to those with French language proficiency to attempt to read "Huis clos", the French original, as it is relatively simple to read ye...more
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I loved the play, The Respectful Prostitue, which is one of the plays featured in this book. The other plays are great but this one stood out to me as the best one. I find it to be remarkable that Sartre, a French author, could so perfectly capture the South. Every sentence of the play is loaded, full of statements about our society both then and now. Lizzie's plight is gripping. I felt immense compassion for her and as she waivers back and forth between doing the right thing and the wrong thing...more
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Read in June, 2006
recommends it for:
everybody
It was with hesitation that I started No Exit, because I previously found Sartre's philosophical writing (specifically, Being and Nothingness) inaccessible, and his novel Nausea unfocused. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but I was genuinely moved by No Exit. Impressively, despite the ordinariness of the characters, they are irritating, annoying, and so foreign to us that by the time Garcin announces that "Hell is other people," we know perfectly well ...more
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Read in January, 2006
I wish I had years and years left of college so I could have fit in all the classes I could dream of. If I did, I would have taken an course in existentialism. Unfortunately it was only ever briefly touched on in one philosophy class, but the brief mention was enough to ignite an interest that I was free to pursue on my own.
I would recommend that anyone who finds comfort in exitentialism, like myself, read NO Exit. The line "Hell is other people" might be one of my favorite mantra...more
I would recommend that anyone who finds comfort in exitentialism, like myself, read NO Exit. The line "Hell is other people" might be one of my favorite mantra...more
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Read in August, 2003
recommends it for:
"wating for godot" fans who are looking for less farce and more of the absurd
I think my love of French existentialism is for life. I thought "No Exit" was brilliant in how it explored the ideas of existential absurdity in one of the most accessible ways next to "The Stranger".
My favorite thing about this play is that I got its recommendation from a guy I really liked at the time. In my reading of it, I fell in love with the idea that Hell is our dependence on other people. Soon after I experienced Sartre's Hell first hand as that book recommend...more
My favorite thing about this play is that I got its recommendation from a guy I really liked at the time. In my reading of it, I fell in love with the idea that Hell is our dependence on other people. Soon after I experienced Sartre's Hell first hand as that book recommend...more
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Read in January, 2005
It's safe to say that Sartre's ambition was for No Exit to illustrate his well-rehearsed maxim, "Hell is other people." And it is a point well taken...assuming, of course, that the other people in question are the grotesquely selfish, immature, and close-minded trio that Sartre chooses to depict.
But there is something infantile about fashioning a play solely for the purpose of torturing its protagonists. The whole affair is reminiscent of a child obsessively stomping and dismembe...more
But there is something infantile about fashioning a play solely for the purpose of torturing its protagonists. The whole affair is reminiscent of a child obsessively stomping and dismembe...more
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Of the plays presented in this book, my favorite by far is "The Flies". The imagery is powerful, viscerally grim and connects to the unconscious mind. Both times that I read this play (as a young man, and recently as a less young man), I had vivid nightmares of the bleeding statues and grim temples of the cursed city of Argos. Sartre transforms the classical tale of revenge (of Orestes seeking vengeance on his mother and her lover for the murder of his father) into an exposition of his...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
existentialists
I'll be honest: I'm not all about existentialism. I think it's depressing and sometimes whiny, and I just don't agree with it. But I re-read "No Exit" recently because it's one of the existentialist works I can teach my seniors this year.
Though I don't like the message of the play, I do like how it's written. The play is very creative (imagine not being able to blink or sleep or look at yourself in a mirror) and even a little funny ("Are you the torturer?"). I don't ...more
Though I don't like the message of the play, I do like how it's written. The play is very creative (imagine not being able to blink or sleep or look at yourself in a mirror) and even a little funny ("Are you the torturer?"). I don't ...more
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No exit is great; but I think that if I were in hell (for eternity) with a bunch of bitchy psychos - I'd hope we could work it out. Eternity is a long time, although Sartre says "hell is other people," I'd hope that people wouldn't be awful to each other forever...
In hell you have to be a hippy. "Come on people ... just chiiilll out, we can make this work. Lets just relax and get to know each other. "
So maybe - if you are a hippy in life, you never go to hell. Ever
In hell you have to be a hippy. "Come on people ... just chiiilll out, we can make this work. Lets just relax and get to know each other. "
So maybe - if you are a hippy in life, you never go to hell. Ever
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
the morbid and antisocial
I only read 'No Exit' but I liked it, pretty much. I wasn't aware that the quote "Hell is...other people." came from this play, but I've always agreed with the sentiment. I wouldn't say it's groundbreaking or anything (though I know nothing about the historical context, so it may have been when it came out) but it's a solid, easy read with a simple, resonant point.
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Walter Kaufmann described existentialism as "The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems, and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial, academic, and remote from life".
Wow, doesn't that sound terrific?? - Sign me up! J/K When I read Sartre all I really get is a headache and more cynical (and sarcastic!) about the world, what good is that?
Wow, doesn't that sound terrific?? - Sign me up! J/K When I read Sartre all I really get is a headache and more cynical (and sarcastic!) about the world, what good is that?
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This is a fine collection of plays, of which "No Exit" is probably the most famous. For me, "The Flies" is the most powerful of the four, and "The Respectful Prostitute" was sort of a refreshing surprise - almost like it was written by someone else (Tennessee Williams springs to mind). While I have found Sartre's straight-up philosophy hard to read, there is no doubt that the man could write a kick-ass play - several of them, in fact, as this volume proves.
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Read in November, 2007
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Read in December, 1997
Definitely the most banal work I've read of Sartre -- his short stories are better, and I'm told the earlier plays are similarly superior. One certainly mustn't think the (confused and ultimately, in my mind, unsatisfying) philosophy of Being and Nothingness is brought to life here -- look to Nausea or the Big White Tome itself for that. Hell is other people hell is other people yeah yeah yeah get over yourself.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
people who enjoy reading plays
besides sartre's famous NO EXIT, there are some other great plays in here!
there's a modern retelling of the electra/orestes story in here that is just wonderful.
and there's a play that comments on racism---one about a woman who witnesses a black man get shot on a train by a well-to-do son of a politician...and the aftermath that ensues.
(sorry, i've forgotten the names of the titles)
there's a modern retelling of the electra/orestes story in here that is just wonderful.
and there's a play that comments on racism---one about a woman who witnesses a black man get shot on a train by a well-to-do son of a politician...and the aftermath that ensues.
(sorry, i've forgotten the names of the titles)
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I enjoyed that this depiction of hell is not of the gnashing of the teeth/lake of fire variety. No, true hell is banality. At least that how I always pictured it.
Yeah, hell is other people, but i almost enjoy the things/people I hate as much as the things I love. I would probably have a good time with Ines and Estelle, but I wouldn't even want to be with myself for eternity.
Yeah, hell is other people, but i almost enjoy the things/people I hate as much as the things I love. I would probably have a good time with Ines and Estelle, but I wouldn't even want to be with myself for eternity.
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This is the best play (No Exit) I have ever read. Very short and very intriguing. I picked it in 12th grade to do my term paper on and it served me well because a.) it was short and b.) it was so good I didn't care that I had to read it a zillion times and learn all about it.
If you've ever thought that hell could be other people you should probably read this book.
If you've ever thought that hell could be other people you should probably read this book.
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Read in April, 2004
The 4 stars are for No Exit (I haven't actually read the three other plays and kind of forgot that there were three other plays in this volume . . . hmm, maybe those should go on my to-read shelf!) Anyway, No Exit is fabulous. I absolutely love (and am a little terrified of) the thought that "hell is other people" . . . Sartre certainly argues the case well. :-)
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.05 (2465 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.05 (2405 ratings) number of reviews: 152popular shelves
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quote
""So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: hell is other people.""
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