An iron poker leans beside a miniature wooden door, with mismatched chairs and a small stool gathered in front.

Original artwork, not a still

No Exit

Jean-Paul Sartre

There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is- other people!

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker dismisses familiar instruments of torment and names other people as hell itself. The abrupt replacement gives an abstract image of damnation a human setting. Read on its own, the line presents social presence as sufficient punishment, concentrating its force in the stark final declaration.

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