"NO EXIT" (JEAN-PAUL SARTRE).   Term Paper ID:23067 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes character of cowardly Garcin in play about hell & authenticity.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes character of cowardly Garcin in play about hell & authenticity. Paper Introduction: This study will analyze the character of Garcin in Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit. The play takes place in hell and features Garcin and two women. Garcin is known to us by what he says about himself, what the other two characters---both women---say about and to him, what he says to them, and by his responses to them. We find through these means that Garcin was a coward in life and is now tormented by his cowardice in death and in hell. He cannot change the fact of his cowardice, but he can at least try to convince the two women that he was not a coward, that even though he behaved cowardly, he was a good and courageous man at heart. Garcin is easily able to get Estelle to agree with this rationalization, but her view is meaningless to him because she is frivolous, if not stupid: "You've a twisted mind, that's your trouble," she tells Garcin. "Plaguing yourself over such Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Like Garcin, all she wants is comfort,escape from the reality of her life (she murdered her child), and she ismore than willing to enter into a mutually-forgiving-and-rationalizing pactwith Garcin in order to win that comfort and escape. His desireto get them to agree with him to not say one word to one another is aresult of his lying to himself that all he has to do to avoid facing hiscowardice is not talk about it. On the other hand, Garcin highly values the view of Inez, for shereveals herself to be a woman who is utterly courageous in facing andaccepting the naked truth about her own sins as well as those of Garcin andEstelle. Instead of having faith in him, Inezconfronts him with the truth of his life, of his cowardice. Estelle, hating Inez for torturing her andGarcin with the constant reminder of their sins, is aware of Inez's desireand tries to torture her by seducing Garcin: "Hug me tight, darling;tighter still---that'll finish her off, and a good thing too!" (44). I'll put up with any torture you impose. Of course, Inez, cynical, jaded, hopeless, is incapable of faith inanybody, so Garcin is truly doomed. He is a coward about having his cowardice exposed.His deception of the others in first lying about his cowardice andunfaithfulness, and then in trying to get them to agree with hisrationalization, is accompanied, of course, by self-deception. Ofcourse, again, Estelle and Inez are unable to find and release in sex witheach other because Inez is there to torture both of them with reminders oftheir sins: "What a lovely scene: coward Garcin holding baby-killer Estellein his manly arms!" (45). When he feels as if he cannot stand the subtle torture arranged forhim, Garcin pleads with the operators of hell to let him out of the room,even if it means enduring physical torture: Open the door! This acceptance shows that to some degree Garcin hasmanaged as authentic a life, or death, or eternal damnation, as he can hopefor. When Estelle expresses to Inez her longing for Garcin, Inez explodes,"Of course! . . We find through these means that Garcin was acoward in life and is now tormented by his cowardice in death and in hell.He cannot change the fact of his cowardice, but he can at least try toconvince the two women that he was not a coward, that even though hebehaved cowardly, he was a good and courageous man at heart. Certainly, in part,he fears that the passage may lead to a worse hell, but within the contextof the play, he stays because he needs to persuade the unpersuadable Inezthat he is worthy of forgiveness for his sin of cowardice, worthy of someform of salvation, even that he is not a coward after all: So it's you whom I have to convince. Garcin is known to us by what he says about himself, what the othertwo characters---both women---say about and to him, what he says to them,and by his responses to them. . Estelle's sexual attractiveness to Garcin offers him the possibilityof momentary release from his suffering, and she desires the same release,but when they try to fulfill their desire, they are unable to do so becauseof the taunting of Inez. Justas Estelle and Garcin torture each other by simply being in each other'spresence and desiring each other without the possibility of fulfilling thatdesire, so is Inez, a lesbian, tortured by Estelle's beauty for the samereason. ." (46). . "Plaguing yourself over such trifles!" (37). She says, in response to Estelle's aforementioned pleading: "Can'tyou guess? It is Sartre's version of hell that an individual experiencessuffering as the result of another person's presence. Well, well, let's get onwith it. So meticulously havethe operators of hell arranged the relationships among these three soulsthat their eternal and mutual torture is assured. This would not free him fromthe suffering brought on by his awareness of his sin, but it would free himfrom the suffering of needing to convince Inez that he is not a coward, orthat she should have faith in him for his efforts to live heroically beforethe final act of cowardice, although even those efforts are revealed tohave been largely failures as well. Only you two remain to give a thought to me. She seems to smell his sins, about his cowardice as well as abouthis cheating on and humiliation of his wife, long before he actually getsaround to revealing them. When the question of who will torturewho arises again, Inez says, "More likely you'll hurt me. He has not only been a coward in life, he is also a coward indeath, a coward in hell. I'll endure anything, your red- hot tongs and molten lead, your racks and prongs and garrotes. He wants you to tell him that he bolted like alion. Now will you open? I wish neither of you any harm, and I've no concern with you. Therefore, Garcin's particular hell is having to beconfronted eternally by a woman who relentlessly judges him and reminds himwithout respite of his cowardice. So, Inez, we're alone. That's the one and only thing I wish for now. Garcin is easily able to get Estelle to agree with thisrationalization, but her view is meaningless to him because she isfrivolous, if not stupid: "You've a twisted mind, that's your trouble," shetells Garcin. Garcin's act of cowardice and subsequent execution robbed him of thechance to live an authentic life, a life of duty, a life true to his heroicprinciples. She sniffs out his betrayal of his wife.When she recognizes that each will be the torturer of the other two, Garcinresponds with another lie about himself and his true nature: No, I shall never be your torturer. He would still feel the condemnation ofhis own conscience, but Inez's judgment would no longer mean anything tohim. Inez corrects him:"It's what one does, and nothing else, that shows the stuff one's made of"(43). . In his current condemned and tortured position, however, if hetruly faces and accepts that position, he has achieved as authentic a life,or death, as is possible. Estelle and Inez share in this group torture and self-torture. Not one word (17). . . If you'll have faith in me I'm saved (43). Estelledoes not qualify, wanting only to say what pleases and absolves Garcin:"You acted quite rightly, as you didn't want to fight. The first sign of Garcin's attempt to rationalize away the reality ofhis situation comes when he suggests that the three being put together inhell is a "fluke." When Inez laughs at this notion, and Garcin asks her whyshe is laughing, Inez says, "Because you amuse me, with your 'flukes.' Asif they left anything to chance! . (41). But I suppose you've got to reassureyourself somehow" (14). Because he's a Man!" And in the same passage, because she knowsGarcin and Estelle share a sexual attraction which leaves her out, Inezsays to Garcin: "You've won" (21). [Estelle]---she doesn't count. Also, we mustn't speak. After Estelle futilely tries to stab Inezto death---impossible because Inez is already dead---Inez declares that"here we are, forever." Garcin joins the two women in hysterical laughterand says, "For ever, and ever, and ever. He knows hiscowardice is a serious sin against the authentic life, and that only aperson who resists such convincement has an opinion worth changing. Well, I can. . He is intorment over not only his sins, but his inability or unwillingness to facethose sins and the impossibility of ever being absolved of them, for he is,after all, in hell. It's you who matter; you who hate me. For 'bolt' he did, and that's what's biting him" (37). He pleads thathe is not a coward but a man of principle because for all his life exceptfor his final cowardly act he stuck to those principles. No Exit. When Garcin offers hisfirst story that he was a pacifist and shot because he stuck my hisprinciples, Estelle immediately starts to call him a hero, but she isinterrupted by Inez who speaks the word "ironically" (16). Closer" (2 ). In addition, Garcin and Inez together torture the simple-mindedEstelle, taunting her with the fact that she is responsible for her lover'ssuicide (27). Garcin has no chance of getting to heaven, but he does have thechance to reverse his position, unless, of course, he is truly "finished"in terms of character and can only continue to think, feel and act in deathand hell as he has in life, as the play suggests he will. . But, darling, how onearth can I guess what you want me to answer" (37). She sees the lie of his alleged heroism in livingup to his pacifist principles. But when the door opens, Garcin does not go out. In a sense, that acceptance of his position is the best that Garcincan do in his search for release from the suffering his awareness of hiscowardice brings him. The play takes place in hell and features Garcin and twowomen. Inez is also tortured byEstelle because of the desire that Estelle has for Garcin instead of forher. Hell for Garcin, then, is having to be consciouseternally of his cowardice, trying eternally to get Inez to share hisrationalization, and being eternally rebuffed. Inez recognizes this fact. Not talking about one's sins, of course,does not make those sins vanish and, in fact, intensifies the sufferingthey cause through the stress of trying to deny them. As the play is presented, however, no such change in attitude ispossible. This study will analyze the character of Garcin in Jean-Paul Sartre'splay No Exit. Garcin later recognizes the same fact,saying to Inez: "Do you realize that this young woman's fated to be yourtorturer?" (3 ) Inez is able to accept her sins in a way which Estelle andGarcin will never be able to accept theirs, but she is neverthelesstortured with unfulfilled desire for Estelle and with jealousy of Garcinfor Estelle's desire for him. . The title of the play---No Exit---means precisely that thereis no way out. BibliographySartre, Jean-Paul. When she finds that he is acoward, it means little to her. . Whereas Estelle sees no truth about Garcin because she wants Garcinto see no truth about herself, Inez sees and speaks nothing but truth aboutGarcin. Authenticity involves acting in a way which will give one a peaceabout oneself, free from caring about the judgment of others, however harshthat judgment might be. In fact, the effort to reassure himself---throughthe winning of Inez's approval---is what will occupy Garcin's time for alleternity. New York: Vintage International, 1989.----------------------- 9 Sit down, Come closer. As the play is presented, Garcin has no chance whatsoever of gettinginto heaven. . Open, blast you! If I've got to suffer, it may as well be at your hands, yourpretty hands. Garcin knowsthat Estelle's opinion is worth nothing precisely because she does notunderstand his situation (or her own) and because she is so easilypersuaded to see things the way he wants her to see them. . Anything, anything would better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough. If he were ableto change his position, however, he could at least adopt Inez's attitudeand face and accept the fact of his cowardice. . . Garcin says this as if all he wants is peace and harmony, but in facthe wants more than anything to avoid having the truth about his sinsexposed. So the solution's easy enough; each of us stays put in his or her corner. It is Garcin more than Estelle or even Inez who clearly seems to bemeant as the center of the play, the character who suffers the most.Estelle is too superficial to truly understand her predicament, and Inez isable to accept hers in a way which Garcin will never experience. Still, what doesit matter? The problem is that Inez will not be dissuaded from her judgment ofGarcin's cowardice. When Garcinreveals the truth about his cowardice, Estelle is immediately ready toenter into a lie with him about that cowardice, because she wants him toenter into a lie with her about her murder of her child. The definition of hell as presented by Sartre is that humanrelationships create a conflict which cannot be solved due to the precisedynamics of those relationships as set up by the "devil-power" (17) thatoperates hell. The end of the play shows that even if Garcin is not able to let goof the need of convincing Inez, he finally seems to have accepted theinescapability of his position. On the other hand, Estelle is willing to accept at face valuewhatever Garcin says about himself, and when he changes his story, sheaccepts the new version of his life as quickly. None at all. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.