Thursday, October 14, 2010

Love Triangle in "No Exit"

I really enjoyed reading Sartre's "No Exit" and observed a love triangle that I thought was interesting. Throughout the play, Estelle pursues Garcin, who seems intrigued by Inez, who loves Estelle. The pains of love can often seem like hell; we saw earlier in Catullus's poems how the pain of love can seem overwhleming. Sartre's assertion that "Hell is other people" manifests itself in the aches of unrequited love.

5 comments:

chrissy said...

I agree, Julia! Their banters are very funny, yet profound at the same time. Although Dante's hell is quite different than Sartre's, he, too, address the tribulations of love. There, the lustful beings are being tossed and turned by the winds of hell. I think the love triangle is fundamental to why these people are each other's hell. They will be there "forever, and ever, and ever"; this humorously awkward love situation of opposing personalities is the basis for their hell.

Olivia Celata said...

Like Chrissy said, the idea of the love triangle is also addressed in Dante's Inferno. He uses Francesca and Paolo as his main example of this. As Dante tells it, Francesca was married to Giovanni by her father as a peace offering. However, Giovanni's brother, Paolo, and Francesca fell in love by reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere's affair. Francesca and Paolo were unable to repent, because Giovanni surprisingly killed both of them.

Blaine said...

Julia brings up a very point. The love triangle between Inez, Garcin and Estelle is a pivotal part of the play. Each character pursue the love of a character who is least interested in them. For example: Garcin displays absolutly no interest in Estelle and even asks her,"just let me be". Estelle does the opposite; I believe she pusues his love because of his ignorance and disinterest in her makes her want him all the more. Maybe one of Sarte's purposes in creating this "love triangle" is to display all human feelings and emotions. Here, Sarte suggests that all humans desire the things cannot obtain.

efabio said...

I agree with Blaine that the love triangle was an important aspect of the play. I think Sartre included this dynamic as another torture they must endure in hell. Each one of them must spend eternity loving the one they cannot have.

Anonymous said...

Sartre's triangle is a representation of his idea of 'Bad Faith'. They all look to define themselves in another person, yet never receive this affirmation. This is because as humans, our existence precedes our essence. It is not simply a "love triangle".