Hell and Enslavement in Sartres No Exit

Hell and Enslavement. In Sartre's No Exit By Wallace Vincent Rose Sartre, the most famous of the existentialist thinkers, wrote No Exit in 1944. It was first performed in Paris during the Nazi occupation. Sartre was a POW during the occupation, but escaped punishment from the Nazis. There is obviously an overall question pertaining to the play in terms of its relation to the historical period and the atrocities that were taking place in France and …

…is a result of their own inability to accept that they are the makers of their own destiny: INEZ: Dead! Dead! Dead! Knives, poison, ropes--useless. It has happened already, do you understand? Once and for all. So here we are, forever. ESTELLE: Forever. My God, how funny! Forever. GARCIN: Forever, and ever, and ever. (A long silence.) GARCIN: Well, well, let's get on with it... In the end, Sartre's characters accept their lot, much as