In the play No Exit, Sartre examines the question of existence and essence through the actions of Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. Since they have all recently died, they must confront the existence of their consciousness as their physical bodies are buried on earth. Using each individual's consciousness and the "other" part of him/herself that observes that consciousness, Sartre creates a situation where each character must ignore or accept the judgment of the other two. For example, when they first meet, Inez says that Garcin's mouth looks grotesquely frightened. Since there are no mirrors, Ga…
