No Exit and Waiting for Godot Outline

I. In both texts the authors’ ironic use of hell reveals the unreliability and uncertainty in the characters, suggesting that man has been conditioned to turn to others not only to confirm but to dictate his existence, resulting in a cycle of inauthenticity.

II. Sarte uses Estelle’s dependency on mirrors to reaffirm her existence to highlight how man often looks at himself through the eyes of others, even when looking at his own reflection, because he feels the need to appeal to the dictators of his life.

A. “When I talked to people I always made sure there was [a mirror] nearby in which I could see myself. I watched myself talking. And somehow it kept me alert, seeing myself as others saw me…” (Sarte 19).

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No Exit.Godot Outline by GK

Siddhartha and The Death of Ivan Ilych : Existence through Nonexistence

According to Martin Heidegger, a renowned German philosopher, there are two soul sicknesses of mankind: one is unaware of his existence, and one falls into ‘theyself’ living mostly according to what ‘they’ tell him to do, thus leading an inauthentic life. A life in which one runs away from the confrontation with nonexistence, and becomes egoistic, treating all other life as a means rather than an end. Therefore, only a confrontation with death allows one to exist authentically. An existence in which one sees the unity of all life thus overcoming alienation and egoism, making the most of the limited time in one’s life. In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich , both authors portray protagonists who lead lives filled with inauthenticity, living in a state of ‘theyself’, until confronted with death. Through Siddhartha’s desired suicide and Ivan Ilyich’s untimely fatal illness, both Hesse and Tolstoy suggest that one’s confrontation with death makes him realize the inauthenticities of his life, and thus enables one to live authentically.

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Ivan Ilyich and Siddhartha Comparative PBA by SH