The setting of a play is extremely vital. It could be a form of symbolism, foreshadowing, or it can influence the characters in the play. This is exactly the case with both Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit and “Master Harold”... and with Athol Fugard's boys. The setting in both plays contains a room composed mainly of three main characters. The setting has a huge impact on the behavior of the characters. The time period in which both works are formed also influences the writing style and characters. No Exit has an existentialist writing style like "Master Harold"... and the boys were written in apartheid era South Africa. Both books have similar settings, but they also involve some differences. The stage directions and character dialogue tell the audience that the show is set in one room. The number of characters that will be represented in the play is seen in the first scene. At the beginning of No Exit the captions show the audience the room. “A living room in Second Empire style” (Sartre 3). This tells the reader that the show is set in one room. “Then we will be alone, the three of us” (Sartre 10). One of the characters, Inez, states the fact that only three people should reside in the room. This will create some tension, because No Exit is based on hell. The idea of ​​hell for everyone is that it comes with a demonic figure that is supposed to torture everyone. "The racks, the hot tongs and all the other paraphernalia?" (Sartre 4). This is normal hell, but from Sartre's point of view hell is something different. He believes that hell is other people. This is where the setting comes into play. Sartre puts the three different personalities in the same room to turn the...... middle of paper......and the question is obvious. This reveals the idea of ​​prejudice between the characters. Sam and Willie now both want to hurt Hally, while Hally has hurt Sam. In this play, Sam and Willie are against Hally, and in No Exit in the end Garcin tries to impress Inez and Estelle is left alone. The setting also has a great impact on the audience. The single room forces the audience to be more attentive to the characters' entrances and exits. Since the audience is familiar with the set by the end of the first scene, they can focus more on the dialogue and stage directions. The audience is more involved in a show when the scenography is not changed. The audience can then interpret the literary elements of the work. Even in the case of “Master Harold”… and the boys, Fugard had to move the show to the South African ghettos. This made transportation easy and efficient.