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... where sexual desire and reciprocity is the only possible solution to the problem. Estelle is continually confronted by Inez, who has already expressed her desire. These advances are rejected outright. Estelle continually "pecks" at Garcin, asking for some spark of interest.
Her actions have given us more evidence to Sartre's theory of sexual desire and it's relation to sexual perversion. The most prolific and impressive state of any sexual interaction is that of desire. Unfortunately it is a state that is inherently unstable. The only way to satisfy the sexual desire one feels is through the physical act.
As we see from Estelle's story (and her opinion of it), this quickly degrades. We can sit and say that this is futile and thereby not worth any effort put into it. Our characters, and Sartre for that matter, believe that the state of sexual desire is so alluring that it is irresistible. Estelle has no shame about expressing this theme, constantly demanding that Garcin show some physical affection.
It was this affection, and it's ends, that originally sentenced her to Hell! In addition to this story, Estelle goes on to enhance the sexual perversion theme when discussing Peter, a boy she knew in life. She can see him dancing with her best friend Olga, and is very quickly angered: Inez: Do you love him? Estelle: ... No, of course I don't love him; he's only eighteen, and I'm not a baby-snatcher. Inez: Then why bother about them?
What difference can it make? Estelle: He belonged to me. (No Exit, pg. 32) Our third character is Inez Serrano. I believe that she is presented as an incarnation of what we would all consider to be "evil." She and Garcin are the first two individuals to enter the room, and she instantly believes that he is the torturer. Garcin is shocked and amazed, and after explaining that he is no such person asks why she would think so: Garcin: Frightened! But how ridiculous! Of whom should they [the torturers] be frightened?
Of their victims? Inez: Laugh away, but I know what I'm talking about. I've often watched my face in the glass. (No Exit, pg. 9) This is our first indication of what Inez is truly like. She is very willing to admit her nature, that of a sadistic torturing soul. Her end came at the hands of her lover Florence, a girl she had stolen away from her cousin. The only pleasure that Florence truly brought Inez was through her manipulation.
In Inez's words: Inez: ... I crept inside her skin, she saw the world through my eyes. When she left him, I had her on my hands. Later, she gives an explanation for her actions: Inez: When I say I'm cruel, I mean I can't get on without making people suffer. Like a live coal. A live coal in other's hearts.
When I'm alone I flicker out. For six months I flamed away in her heart, till there was nothing but a cinder. One night she got up and turned on the gas while I was asleep. Then she crept back into bed. So now you know. (No Exit, pg. 27) Inez is our "common evil." She serves to torture Garcin with her non-belief in his character, and to provide a realistic light to the entire group.
While the others are trying to delude themselves with arguments of randomness or nonsense, Inez refuses to fall victim. She knows why things have been laid out as they have, why these three people have been chosen to exist in eternity together. Most importantly, though, Inez represents another even stronger, interpretation of Sartre's sexual perversion. Inez's vice is her need to fulfill her desire through the objectification and manipulation of her significant other.
She describes her worldly lover Florence as a "tiresome little fool" and "I won't miss her in the least. " She has shown us through self-description and opinion that this is not a clever ruse designed to fool her cohorts, it therefore shows us that she has no warm feelings for Florence. She kept her around as a "toy." What could possibly be more objectifying than that? In saying "she saw the world through my eyes", it certainly sounds like she is trying to remove Florence's individuality. Florence should be deprived of even her own opinion because it is indicative of her personality. Achieving that level is the ultimate end of Sartre's sexual perversion. One wants another not as a complement one's consciousness, but rather as an object.
Inez cannot escape these desires, even in the afterlife. This time, Estelle is the object of her affection. Garcin represents a threat to that end, Estelle seeks physical pleasure from him. Inez cannot imagine a fate worse than allowing Estelle to get away. As she said, she wants to crawl underneath her skin, to make Estelle see the world through her eyes.
Is there a better definition of objectification of persons? It is as though Inez is trying to "push" the soul out of Estelle. Once she has been "obtained", she is nothing more than a shell of a person, mental jewelry. The difference in this situation from the other two is that Inez knows why she desires another person. Most people are confused, and cannot see that the end of sexual desire is the act. Inez sees this, but as she says, uses it to torture other people.
Slowly she pulls their individuality out, and replaces it with herself. While each person represents some existentialist theories, the setting and premise of the play represents one of the most important ideas Sartre has. That is, the "world" does not posses any meaning or characteristics, those are given to it by other consciousness. The source-sink model discussed in class is the best example of this theory.
Each consciousness "feeds" off the world, giving it meaning and interpretation. One consciousness can "feel" it when another is infringing on that world. As stated by Inez: Inez: [We must try] To forget about the others? How utterly absurd. I feel you there, in every pore. Your silence clamors in my ears.
You can nail your mouth shut, cut your tongue out - but you can't prevent your being there. Can you stop your thoughts? I hear them ticking away like a clock, tick-tock, tick-tock, and I'm certain you hear mine... Some "tortures" seem specifically designed for satisfying this purpose. For instance, who would think that having no eyelids, no ability to blink would be a terrible torture? What is so bad about a small drawing room?
If you apply Sartre's theories, these punishments are the most foul available. For instance, the small drawing room is specifically designed to limit the universe. There are no windows, no mirrors, and no devices of attention (books, magazines, paintings). The entire universe, as it appears to these people, is this tiny room. In other words, we have limited the output of the source. Now, we add three people to the universe, three sinks.
There is nothing that can attract their attention, they cannot engross themselves in a book, or spend time interpreting a painting. This removes the possibility that anyone "close in on themselves" the way Sartre describes the man reading in the park: There, for example, is a man who is reading while he walks. The disintegration of the universe which he represents is purely virtual: he has ears which do not hear, eyes which see nothing except his book. Between his book and him I apprehend an undeniable relation without distance of the same type as that which earlier connected the walker with the grass.
But this time the form has closed in on itself. There is a full object for me to grasp. In the midst of the world I can say "man reading" as I could say "cold stone", "fine rain." (Oaklander, pg. 284) Even more horrifying, Hell has stolen away their ability to close their eyes. There is no way to turn off the sinks! Oaklander gives us a good description of the system, and how it applies to this situation: Rather it appears that the world has a kind of drain hole in the middle of its being and that it is perpetually flowing off through this hole. The universe, the flow, and the drain hole are all once again recovered, re apprehended, and fixed as an object.
All this is there for me as a partial structure in the world, even though the total disintegration of the universe is involved. Moreover these disintegration's may often be contained within more narrow limits... (Oaklander, pg. 284) In conclusion, Jean Paul Sartre takes less than fifty pages to materialize his existentialist ideas for the stage. He has given us interpretations of sexual desire, bad faith, and conscious interactions. As a note: I truly believe that this play could be analyzed on an even deeper level. Each comment could be dissected and applied to part of Sartre's theory. However, this scope was limited to stay within the bounds of this paper.
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Research essay sample on Sexual Desire Sexual Perversion
