Setting vs Story - Dante's Inferno and Sartre's No Exit
Uploaded by PuciniDiva on Mar 31, 1999
This essay is on setting differences using the works of Dante's The Inferno and Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit.
Adam looks about spotting all the important people that will influence the rest of his life. He takes a deep breath and prepares to make this his last and final addition to life. Quietly he draws back from the church as if to stop time, this moment may define him as a man. He turns to look at the priest as if to reply his answer, but suddenly he realizes the hand he is holding is as cold as death. Quickly he snaps back into reality recognizing he is not asking for his bride's hand in marriage, but burying her. Once again his mind tricked him into thinking that he was starting all over again with a new chance; however, as in life, sometimes there are no second chances.
Dante's Inferno and Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit illustrate irony in setting in similar ways, such that there are no second chances in life. Both works take the readers into the minds of their authors where each author gives their interpretation of hell. Dante's and Jean Paul Sartre's works both have similar aspects of setting that are expressed in similar styles. Through symbolism, representation, and finite physical details each author establishes
irony, yet also reinforces his theme. When Dante wrote The Inferno his mind thrived on the different levels of interpretation; likewise, Jean Paul Sartre's mind thrived on this, and he patterned No Exit after Dante's work.
The symbolism expressed in Dante's Inferno correlates directly, in some cases, to the play written by Jean Paul Sartre, No Exit. Symbolism in both works cannot be defined by one level of thinking and neither can it be comprehended on one level. However, symbolism in relation to the setting of both works exhibits the nature of both writers to be very ironic in some cases. For example, throughout Dante's Inferno, Dante makes many direct references to the light and the heavens: "Therefore, if you win through this gloomy pass and climb again to see the heaven of stars when it rejoices to you . . ." (p. 145, l. 82 -5).These references, also made in No Exit, reveal the irony that none of the inhabitants of hell can ever see the light of God or, in Jean Paul Sartre's perspective, will always be reminded of the light and...