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Reading french texts > huis clos > Flashcards

huis clos Flashcards

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1
Q

when was the first performance of huis clos?

A

27 may 1944 (during the Occupation

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2
Q

what is the meaning of in camera (legal term)

A

behind closed doors- a legal procedure which takes place in the private chambers of a judge, where press etc are excluded

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3
Q

Sartre’s opinion on theatre as opposed to fiction

A
  • the theatrical space (which physically seperates the audience from
  • promotes direct experience, the audience sees for themselves what the
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4
Q

what is existentialism?

A

existance preceeds essence: we are not born with a predestined purpose in life, we have the freedom to find it ourselves. This freedom is often frightening and oppressive, as well as exciting as it allows countless possibilities

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5
Q

why was Theatre important for existentialism?

A

actors illustrate existentialism by embodying different and varied actors. The characters are no the essence of the actor, but just roles they chose to be

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6
Q

why is existentialsm an important theme in Huis Clos?

A
  • the characters have missed their opportunity for self creation while alive, their agony comes from the realisation of their fixed essence now that they are dead
  • they rely too much on others to define their essence
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7
Q

what is a key (existential) cause of the characters unhappiness?

A
  • they live in-authentically: each of them fulfils a sterotype- ‘the macho male, the superficial socialite, the bitchy lesbian’
  • ‘this trio … are played out theatrical types wishing vainly to be authentic humans. They conemn themselves to enact a pardoy of love’s roundabout and undergo the macabre ordeal of death and life
    (walter redfern)
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8
Q

what does theatre provide the opportunity of showing?

A

it shows a character in the midst of making a choice (choosing their essence)

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9
Q

what was the orginial titile of Huis Clos

A

les autres

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10
Q

what was the occupation commonly known as?

A

la period en vas clos (in iscolation)

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11
Q

how could huis clos be a mathematical pun?

A

huit clos- infinity (endlessness)

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12
Q

how is the title metatheatrical

A
  • the theatre itself is huis clos (behind closed doors), a space in which the audience are closed in for a space in time
  • Sartre wants us to feel a guilty kinship with the characters: we are have to live in compulsory cohabitation (e.g. work, hospitals, tubes etc)
  • sartre wants to frighten us with a cautionary tale
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13
Q

movement in this drama

A

total lies, part lies, truth

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14
Q

what phrase does Sartre coin to describe the fate of the charcaters?

A

inexistentialisme: their refusal of freedom

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15
Q

what is the process that goes on in Huis clos

A
  • a reversal of solipsism (the act of talking to/ seeing only yourself)
  • in order for this process to take place, others are essential, however, they are also dangerous to us
  • we need others to define us, YET we need to define ourselves: other other forces the I, yet it also forces the other I, the eye, to open to the truth
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16
Q

what does Sartre say in his recorded foreword ton Huis Clos?+ what can this be linked to?

A
  • whatever cycle of hell we live in, it is possible to break free and liberate ourselves. If people dont escape, they are freely staying, hence they choose to stay in hell
  • this can be linked to Garcin not leaving despite the door being open
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17
Q

love triangles of each character whilst on earth

A

Garcin/ his wife/ his mistress, Ines/ florence/ florence’s husband, Estelle/ her husand/ her lover/ olga?

18
Q

Stage direction illustrating how Garcin lives in-authentically?

A

despite saying you need to look a situation in the eyes, he buries his head in the sand, and physically spending lots of the play with his hands in his eyes

19
Q

what is Garcins fatal flaw?

A
  • his obbession with male approval, he has no qualms about admitting he beat his wife/ made her bring breakfast to him and his mistress, because it contributes to his image as a ‘dur’
  • he regrets the absence of mirrors because he depends too much on the vision if others to determine himself. He wants a magic mirror to tell him he is the ‘fairest’ of them all
  • he thinks Ines is the judge he needs for freedom, yet this is also just a lie- he needs the living, NOT the dead to
20
Q

garcin’s toxic masculinity

A
  • insecure of his masculinity, this is because he thinks he is a coward (doesn’t conform to traditional standards of heroism)
  • treats women badly to gain a sense of masculine domination
  • grows disgusted/ intimidated by female sexuality as to draws attention to his lack of ‘manhood’
21
Q

Redfern quote about mirrors

A

a mirror provides at least the semblance of making you both the object and the subject. Without a mirror we exist nakedly under the stare of others

22
Q

summary of estelle

A
  • tries her best to keep all matters superficial
  • snobbish about the ‘lower classes’/ vain
  • appearance matters most to her
  • she needs mirrors to feel alive at all, as she depends on being registered/ confirmed by anothers gaze
23
Q

Estelles need for mirrors vs Garcins need for mirrors

A

he needs on e for introspection/ to see his character/ actions clearly whilst she needs it for narcisistic reasons

24
Q

estelle and Euphemisms

A

estelles obsession with pretence transcends into her speech: she askes Garcin to stop using the words Morts and use instead Absents
when she finally confesses her crime, she doesnt actually describe it, just takes about the waves that thr splashing baby makes

25
Q

what does Ines call Florence?

A

ma petite

26
Q

context about Ines’s homosexuality

A

at the time homosexuals were seen as being a midway point in the orthodox genders. Her hostility towards men counterbalances Estelles over reliance on them

27
Q

what is Ines’s Sartrian crime?

A

Her essence is her cruelty, this means that she has exploited her freedom

28
Q

why is Ines possibly more accepting of her damnation than the others

A
  • due to her lesbianism, she was ‘born’ a ‘femme damne’- she was aware of her condamnation whilst alive, so was able to get used to the idea
  • she therefore believes hell in infernal machine where everything is planned perfectly
29
Q

what is Ines’s aim in hell

A

to make Estelle see a man with Ines’s hateful eyes (like what she did with Florence)

30
Q

which three spheres does Sartre’s notion of Le Regard link to?

A
  • Religious: Old testament notion of the inescapable eye of God
  • Political: fear of a ‘big brother’ figure surveying you
  • Personal : going into a room where everyone is staring at you
31
Q

how does Sartre link le regard to classic mythology?

A

He takes the myth of Medusa, where everything she looks at turns to stone, to describe le regard to be the process of turning a subject into an object

32
Q

how does Sartre concrete his vision of Hell through objects?

A
  • uses normal objects and makes them hellish:
    1) Paper knife but no books/ paper to cut
    2) a bronze statuette too heavy to lift
    3) a bell that only works spasmodically
    4) a light that cant be switched off
    5) a door that only opens itself once, but offers no means of escape
33
Q

How is Sartre use of props/ stage objects a reminder of existential philosophy

A
  • By making them faulty/ not fully able to fulfil their function, he disputes their essence
  • also can be used as challenges to measure ourselves agaisnt: Garcin walks towards the bronze when Ines says she will never tell him whether he is a coward or not , which illustrates that he, like the statue, has become a fixed essence for all time
34
Q

what happens during the scene’s on earth?

A
  • the three become spectators, it becomes a play within a play
  • like a play, there is a physical and psychological separation between hell and earth
  • There is also the psychological separation: in a play, the characters essence has been determined by the director/ actor before the show and is fixed, yet the audience are free. In hell the essence is fixed, but those on earth are free
35
Q

is hus clos funny?

A

Huis clos is a black comedy/ gallows humour
this is vividly portrayed through Ines quick wits and jokes: hell being a self service as they left the people kill each other

36
Q

McCall on the importance of words in the play

A

Huis clos is intensly […] rhetorical: […]As no true acts are possible for the dead, the whole drama relies of words. Here words are acts. The charcacters carve eachb other up with language more effectively than estelle can pierce Ines with the paper knife

37
Q

Ines’s speech

A
  • It both tears others apart and tears at her own wounds. she both attacks others and increases her own suffering- supports her sadomasochism character
  • highly melodramatic: fiery language creates a traditional hell that Sartre otherwise supresses
38
Q

language used to describe Estelle/ Ines

A

Estelle: water like, fluid
Ines: firey, passionate
Both play on cliches of lovers language, yet both also draw attention to their incompatibility

39
Q

what is the metatheatrical joke of the plays final words

A
  • the actors must continue to repeat the script again and again
40
Q

what is the purpose of the play?

A

to make people squirm and realise that they have things that they want to conceal

Reading french texts (3 decks)

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