ENERATIONTHEATRE
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No Exit and Existentialism
The mid 20th century Existentialist movement, led by Jean Paul Sartre, brings together feelings of post war anxiety and the growth of individualist thought, with radical advancements to psychology and technology of the time. Molded by these destabilizing changes to the global zeitgeist, Existentialism offers a secular description of human existence, and attempts to explain the least desirable aspects of humanity. It is a philosophy built on the notion that life is absurd —lacking inherent meaning— positing that individuals must subjectively create meaning through their decisions and subsequent actions.
As bluntly recited by the protagonist, Garcin, during the climax of Sartre’s No Exit, “Hell is the others.” Existentialism proposes that humans instinctively base their self worth on validation from their peers, “the others”. According to existentialist thought, allowing such external judgment to impact one’s self image is deceitful, and seen as a show of bad faith. In No Exit, different ways of anchoring one’s worth on the other’s perspective are identified: Garcin’s delusions of grandeur, Estelle’s vanity, and Inez’s sadism. To Sartre, unhappiness is caused by the human craving for others’ acknowledgement, which he believes is unavoidable when living amongst others. Sartre rather pessimistically comes to the conclusion that societal life, where escaping the gaze of the other is impossible, is fundamentally and unavoidably torturous. While Sartre does not offer a complete solution to this deep human flaw, he believed it could be mitigated by authentic action —action driven by internally defined morals— as opposed to external judgements.
Sartre’s particular brand of existentialism reaches a bleak conclusion about human nature and society, yet, existentialist concepts can also be taken in less macabre directions. Albert Camus, for example, uses the existentialist tenet of life’s absurdity as an argument for happiness: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” He believed that embracing the lack of inherent meaning in life can allow humans to live and act freely —without the external pressures of human institutions— and can ultimately achieve happiness, even under the least desirable circumstances.
Jacobo Inciarte-Valayre, 2024