Characters from Sartre's No Exit"No Exit", by Jean-Paul Sartre, is a play that illustrates the transition of three people from wanting to be alone in Hell to needing of the omnipresent "other" constantly at their side. As the story progresses, the characters' identities become more and more permanent and immutable. Soon Inez, Garcin and Estelle live in the hope of gaining each other's acceptance. These three characters are unable to accept their existentialist condition: they are alone in their emotions, thoughts and fears. As a result, they look to other people to give meaning to their past lives and present deaths. Forever trapped in Hell, they are condemned to seek the other to give meaning to their lives; even when given the option to leave the room, the characters choose to stay together rather than face uncertainty and the possibility of being detached from the stability of their relationships with others. Without other people, the characters would have no reason to exist. Each character's meaning depends on the other's opinion of him; Garcin needs someone to deny his cowardice, Inez wants Estelle's love, and Estelle wants only passion without commitment. This triangle of endless desire, anguish, and ongoing disillusionment with the other is precisely Sartre's definition of pure Hell. Garcin, the most complex of the three characters, slowly succumbs to the mold his death is molding him into. As a result, he finds himself longing for the respect of others. When the play first begins, Garcin wants his privacy so he can “deal with the situation” (Sartre 5) and “size” it (Sartre 5). Initially Garcin doesn't even want help from others; he rejects Inez's presence and “would prefer... middle of paper... it matters whether you are alone or with a large group of people. The eye of the other is internalized in the minds of all three of these characters; because of this, Garcin sees himself as a coward, Inez reacts to others violently because she feels that her lifestyle is taboo and therefore she must defend it, and Estelle worries about her appearance because she has a vision of how she should look at cause of the other. For these reasons all the characters are in bad faith. Meaning also determines how characters act and react to each other. At the end of the play, the characters still cannot accept that there is no meaning even in Hell and this is what becomes the torture of it. They all seek refuge in each other and find that there is no way to achieve long-term satisfaction. Works Cited: Sartre, Jean Paul. No exit and three more comedies. 1944. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.