Saturday, February 23, 2013
No Exit and Freud's "Subconscious"
I was just thinking, the ending of No Exit really has many directions to consider. The most dynamic part of it would have to be the laughter by all three characters at the "absurdity" of their situation. We talked in class about how in life, one has the ability, the freedom to make decisions, but in Sartre's version of hell, one does not. This lack of freedom can be likened to a lack of control, making this certain atmosphere of hell similar to an external projection of Freud's idea of the subconscious, (or rather the reaction to it from the public perspective) something which we have no control over. Just thought that this was an interesting comparison. Feel free to make others.
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2 comments:
I think the idea behind the irony is that the decisions that they have made in their lives have led them to the place in hell where they have no decisions. I do think that parallels can be drawn between freuda idea of the subconscious and the hell they eperience, but I do not think that was necessarily on purpose or the entire basis for the structure Sartre creates.
I agree with Mitchell's statement, however I believe that the characters in "No Exit" do have a choice and the freedom to make decisions, however their own consciousness of "the gaze" influences the decisions they make. For example: Garcin has complete freedom to leave the room and escape Inez and Estelle, however he does not because he is unsure of what lies beyond the doors and because he is afraid that Inez and Estelle will deem him a coward for once again running away from a confrontational issue. Here it is evident that Garcin has the freedom to make his own decisions, however he does not because of the "hell" that the other two characters help create.
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