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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a thought provoking short read. I would love to see it actually acted out at some point. The characters were all interesting in their mutual self destruction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide
Minor: Child death
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE”
In this short play, Sartre imagines hell as a locked room in which three people have to endure each other’s company for eternity. No instruments of tortures, no flames, just three regular people. Sartre’s existentialist philosophy transpires through the characters' interaction and thoughts. Garcin, for example, can’t let go of the past. He is afraid to be considered a coward by his friends who are still alive, and as they stop to talk and to think about him, he desperately seeks to be persuaded otherwise by his two new companions. He is concerned with the judgment of others to the point that he gave up completely on his freedom to define himself.
Sartre implies that we, our identity, our meaning and our core values, are defined entirely by our actions, thus "existence precedes essence". Garcin lived his life wishing not to be a coward, but as he had "bad faith" and couldn’t handle the responsibility of his actions, left his essence to be defined by others.
Estelle is also letting her consciousness be defined by others, in particular through the admiration of her physical body. As soon as she entered the room, she looked for a mirror, and when Inez offered her eyes to serve as her mirror, Estelle was worried the image reflected won’t represent her real self, which can only emerge in her own intimacy.
No-exit, literally, there is no way out. And even if you could walk out, you wouldn’t want to for fear of becoming nothing, disappearing. Hell is other people for ever judging and defining our essence for actions we can no longer change.
In this short play, Sartre imagines hell as a locked room in which three people have to endure each other’s company for eternity. No instruments of tortures, no flames, just three regular people. Sartre’s existentialist philosophy transpires through the characters' interaction and thoughts. Garcin, for example, can’t let go of the past. He is afraid to be considered a coward by his friends who are still alive, and as they stop to talk and to think about him, he desperately seeks to be persuaded otherwise by his two new companions. He is concerned with the judgment of others to the point that he gave up completely on his freedom to define himself.
“Garcin: I died too soon. I wasn’t allowed time to - to do my deeds
Inez: One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summoning up. You are - your life, and nothing else.”
Sartre implies that we, our identity, our meaning and our core values, are defined entirely by our actions, thus "existence precedes essence". Garcin lived his life wishing not to be a coward, but as he had "bad faith" and couldn’t handle the responsibility of his actions, left his essence to be defined by others.
“Inez: (...)You are a coward, Garcin, because I wish it! (...) So you have no choice, you must convince me, you are at my mercy.”
Estelle is also letting her consciousness be defined by others, in particular through the admiration of her physical body. As soon as she entered the room, she looked for a mirror, and when Inez offered her eyes to serve as her mirror, Estelle was worried the image reflected won’t represent her real self, which can only emerge in her own intimacy.
“Estelle: (...) I’m going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become”.
No-exit, literally, there is no way out. And even if you could walk out, you wouldn’t want to for fear of becoming nothing, disappearing. Hell is other people for ever judging and defining our essence for actions we can no longer change.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Hell is other people
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
** August 2021 Update**
Here's LARA edition of Huis Clos! ^_^
LARA's English version of this book (No Exit) is also out!
Enjoy listening! :)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When I started reading "Huis Clos" (No Exit), I confess that I had no idea that the whole story was happening in Hell! I'm not spoiling anything here; because it seems that almost everyone can get it since the very first pages! Maybe it was because I was just reading Estelle's lines for another recording on LARA (Yeah BINGO I just wanted to get to this point! :D You can now read it & listen to it on LARA: here is the French version. The English version will be out soon, I suppose, and then I'll add it to this review). So... I was saying :D ... I couldn't get what's really happening just by reading Estelle's lines so I got back to the first page et voilà! I couldn't stop! It is such an amazing thoughtful pièce, not to mention that the very famous quotation is from this pièce: "L'enfer, c'est les autres!" (As it is very famous in Persian: دیگران جهنماند). I remember adding it to my WhatsApp bio, and at the same time I was thinking "But are they really?"...
In my eyes, this is a story about egotism and therefore loneliness: The urge of having privacy, though still finding life difficult without the presence of other individuals. I find every character on the very edge of a collapse, clinging to the false hope that maybe something or someone could still save them; but is there really something out there that could save us from ourselves?
If you ask me, it's not just the others who are the Hell ("L'enfer, c'est les autres!"). It's also us. We're carrying a Hell -in our heart, in our minds- most of the times and little by little it burns and consumes us from inside. And if YOU are the reason for your own Hell, and you are an egoist at the same time, there will be no escape. You'd lose your sense, calling others the source of your misery ("L'enfer, c'est les autres!") and making a real Hell for yourself and also for everyone else around...
It is possible that someday you figure out that the Hell's door was never actually locked at all! The question is, if there'd be any escape from this Hell somehow, if the door is not locked, would you be brave enough to step out?
P.S.
As always, if you're a francophone and like to record some lines like this one on LARA, you can contact Manny and he'll patiently guide you through the steps.
P.P.S.
Even if you are a native in languages other than French and like to participate, I still think you can contact Manny. LARA is doing a great job and it is now one of my favorite platforms to go to when I want to refresh some of my rusty languages. So I think it's always a good idea to add more and more contents in so many languages :)
Here's LARA edition of Huis Clos! ^_^
LARA's English version of this book (No Exit) is also out!
Enjoy listening! :)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When I started reading "Huis Clos" (No Exit), I confess that I had no idea that the whole story was happening in Hell! I'm not spoiling anything here; because it seems that almost everyone can get it since the very first pages! Maybe it was because I was just reading Estelle's lines for another recording on LARA (Yeah BINGO I just wanted to get to this point! :D You can now read it & listen to it on LARA: here is the French version. The English version will be out soon, I suppose, and then I'll add it to this review). So... I was saying :D ... I couldn't get what's really happening just by reading Estelle's lines so I got back to the first page et voilà! I couldn't stop! It is such an amazing thoughtful pièce, not to mention that the very famous quotation is from this pièce: "L'enfer, c'est les autres!" (As it is very famous in Persian: دیگران جهنماند). I remember adding it to my WhatsApp bio, and at the same time I was thinking "But are they really?"...
In my eyes, this is a story about egotism and therefore loneliness: The urge of having privacy, though still finding life difficult without the presence of other individuals. I find every character on the very edge of a collapse, clinging to the false hope that maybe something or someone could still save them; but is there really something out there that could save us from ourselves?
If you ask me, it's not just the others who are the Hell ("L'enfer, c'est les autres!"). It's also us. We're carrying a Hell -in our heart, in our minds- most of the times and little by little it burns and consumes us from inside. And if YOU are the reason for your own Hell, and you are an egoist at the same time, there will be no escape. You'd lose your sense, calling others the source of your misery ("L'enfer, c'est les autres!") and making a real Hell for yourself and also for everyone else around...
It is possible that someday you figure out that the Hell's door was never actually locked at all! The question is, if there'd be any escape from this Hell somehow, if the door is not locked, would you be brave enough to step out?
P.S.
As always, if you're a francophone and like to record some lines like this one on LARA, you can contact Manny and he'll patiently guide you through the steps.
P.P.S.
Even if you are a native in languages other than French and like to participate, I still think you can contact Manny. LARA is doing a great job and it is now one of my favorite platforms to go to when I want to refresh some of my rusty languages. So I think it's always a good idea to add more and more contents in so many languages :)