No Exit

How might the play change if it had a traditional three-act structure? Where would the breaks between acts occur, and how might the experience of watching this play change with intermittent breaks?

Unreliable characters and narrators are a staple of literature during and after World War II. This is partly because of the shift in philosophical thinking and approaches to life outlined in the Background section. Is it possible that one of the characters is lying and is an assigned torturer for the other two? Cite examples from the text to substantiate your argument. If you think all of the characters are being truthful, cite reasons as to why.

Anxiety and pessimism are very frequently found in works that deal with existentialist themes. This is also present in Sartre’s concept of the Look, where looking and being looked at can cause anxiety in a subject. Yet, in “Existentialism is a Humanism,” Sartre claims that existentialism is perhaps the most optimistic philosophy. How can that claim be reconciled with No Exit? Can the play be viewed in an optimistic light? Why or why not?