Initially, he hates Inèz because she understands his weakness, and wants Estelle because he feels that if she treats him as a man he will become manly. He was unfaithful to his wife – he even recalls, without any sympathy, bringing home another woman one night, and his wife bringing them their morning coffee after hearing their engagement all night. He is from France and died after deserting during the invasion of France in World War II. Joseph Garcin – His cowardice and callousness caused his young wife to die 'of grief' after his execution. As Estelle begins to laugh hysterically at the idea of them being dead and trapped together forever, the others join in a prolonged fit of laughter before Garcin finally concludes, ' Eh bien, continuons.' ('Well then, let's get on with it.').

Inèz chides Estelle, saying that they are all already dead, and even furiously stabs herself to prove that point. Estelle, infuriated, picks up a paper knife and repeatedly stabs Inèz. Garcin concludes that rather than torture devices or physical punishment, 'hell is other people.' Estelle tries to persevere in her seduction of Garcin, but he says that he cannot make love while Inèz is watching. She refuses, saying that he is obviously a coward, and promising to make him miserable forever. He says that he will not be saved until he can convince Inèz that he is not cowardly. After his trying to open the door repeatedly, it inexplicably and suddenly opens, but he is unable to bring himself to leave, and the others remain as well. This causes Garcin to abruptly attempt an escape. While she complies, Inèz mockingly tells him that Estelle is just feigning attraction to him so that she can be with a man-any man. Garcin is constantly interrupted by his own guilt, however, and begs Estelle to tell him that he is not a coward for attempting to flee his country during wartime. Garcin finally begins giving in to the lascivious Estelle's escalating attempts to seduce him, which drives Inèz crazy. Despite their revelations, they continue to get on each other's nerves. Garcin cheated on and mistreated his wife, and was executed by firing squad for desertion Inèz is a manipulative sadist who seduced her cousin's wife, Florence, while living with them and convinced her to leave her husband-the cousin was later hit and killed by a tram and Florence asphyxiated herself and Inèz by flooding the room with gas while they slept-and Estelle had an affair and then killed the resulting child, prompting the child's father to commit suicide. It is soon clear that Inèz is attracted to Estelle, Estelle is attracted to Garcin, and Garcin is not attracted to either of the two women.Īfter arguing, they decide to confess to their crimes so they know what to expect from each other. Inèz tries to seduce Estelle by offering to be her 'mirror' by telling her everything she sees but ends up frightening her instead. Garcin suggests that they try to leave each other alone and to be silent, but Inèz starts to sing about execution and Estelle vainly wants to find a mirror to check on her appearance. She deduces that they are to be one another's torturers. She refuses to believe that they have all ended up in the room by accident and soon realizes that they have been placed together to make each other miserable. At first, none of them will admit the reason for their damnation: Garcin says that he was executed for being an outspoken pacifist, while Estelle insists that a mistake has been made Inèz, however, is the only one to demand that they all stop lying to themselves and confess to their moral crimes. They had all expected torture devices to punish them for eternity, but instead, find a plain room furnished in the style of the French 'Second Empire'. Three damned souls, Joseph Garcin, Inèz Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are brought to the same room in Hell and locked inside by a mysterious valet. The original title, Huis clos ('closed door'), is the French equivalent of the legal term in camera (Latin: 'in a chamber'), referring to a private discussion behind closed doors. Įnglish translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out, Vicious Circle, Behind Closed Doors, and Dead End. It is the source of Sartre's especially famous phrase 'L'enfer, c'est les autres' or 'Hell is other people', a reference to Sartre's ideas about the look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object from the view of another consciousness. It is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity.

The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting in a mysterious room. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. No Exit (French: Huis clos, pronounced ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre.

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