For Jean Paul-Sartre, “hell is other people”. In Sartre's play No Exit, three damned souls, Inez, Cradeau and Estelle, are greeted by a hell where their eternal torment is a psychological struggle provoked by each other. Estelle and Cradeau give up their identities to others because they cannot let go of the past. Inez lives in the present, but suffers the same fate. Because Hell is devoid of material objects, the characters are forced to choose between relying on each other or their own opinion of themselves to define their identity, demonstrating that Hell is not a physical place, but rather a state of mind. Sartre's philosophy of “bad faith,” or self-deception, is revealed through the characters' interactions. As soon as they arrive in hell, Estelle and the other two characters, Inez and Cradeau, meditate on hell and their deaths, but Estelle, frightened, suggests "[they have] never been as alive as [they are] now"( 15). Ironically, Estelle presents herself to others as delicate, fainting at the mention of death, when in reality she is a murderer. Even though Estelle is already in Hell and cannot receive greater punishment, she continues to maintain that her residence in Hell is a mistake and that she may even still be alive. Estelle's refusal to admit why she is in hell and her feigned meekness allow Sartre to comment on the nature of self-deception. Those who lie to themselves refuse to accept their life and therefore must create lies or seek confirmation in other external sources, or in Sartre's "bad faith". Estelle's identity is tested by her rampant inclination to lie even to herself, created by fear. After being in an empty room called hell, Estelle begins to panic, because "when [she] can't see [herself... middle of paper... and existence depends on the pain of others , so she is also guilty of “bad faith,” relying on others for her own identity. She believes she is completely autonomous, but is defined by others, so she is just as guilty of self-deception as Estelle and Cradeau they achieve their full education through literature. Fittingly, he dispensed his philosophies through literature, as the play No Exit. Sartre defines his ideas on identity and existence above all, as Inez, Estelle and Cradeau are “ bad faith” and cannot exist without an external force that defines them. Like Estelle without a mirror, Cradeau cannot exist without the judgment of others, and Inez cannot exist without the suffering of others that Sartre defines is in great mental part, because there is no physical torment, only the struggle to define one's identity.