以前我老提Sartre，

This infamous line of Sartre, “Hell is—other people!” comes from No Exit, a one-act play with only three characters who are literally in hell as recently deceased individuals forced to interact with one another. They immediately begin to experience conflict. As they get to know one another, Garcin, an intelligent but disloyal man, comes to be attracted to Inez, a stern woman who loathes him, and instead is attracted to Estelle, who is described as a very beautiful young woman who is attracted to Garcin—nobody wins. They each, as an “other,” constrict one another’s freedom.

 

“So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the ”burning marl.” Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is—other people!”

 

In other words, there is no physical torture that awaits them: it’s the emotional and mental torture of having to relate with other humans that makes that place hell (which, in its description throughout the play, resembles the real world).

 

Our relationships with others are, therefore, inherently conflictual. We all want to be in control, and that by nature equalizes us, yet we still fight against that reality. When we are caught staring through the keyhole, we can also stare right back at that third person and make them the object. However, we can only do that if they are a subject because only a subject has the power to create an object (or again, so it seems). At times we may feel trapped in the gaze. This can manifest in many ways, some of which are particularly nefarious and discriminatory.