Estelle Rigault is the classic example of someone whose whole identity is defined by the look of the Other. In true Sartrean fashion, Estelle has been turned into an object by the look, objectified by how other people regard her. As such, she is not really a person in her own right; she is not able to make a firm commitment to living life the way she wants to in the midst of an absurd, meaningless universe. Hell is other people, as the play's most famous line has it, and other people determine the contours of Estelle's whole existence. Her life is thus mired in bad faith and inauthenticity.
Because Estelle's life doesn't really belong to her, she desperately seeks the approval of others. As she has no true identity of her own, she is forced to seek validation from elsewhere, from the approving gaze of the people around her....
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In Sartrean terms, she chooses to exist as being-for-others rather than being-for-itself. This means that Estelle has willingly become an object, like all the countless other objects in this meaningless universe. In other words, she is no longer a human subject; she has given up her subjectivity to become a mere object of others' approval. And as morality as such can only really attach to the human subject, Estelle has rendered herself incapable of moral action. By choosing to exist purely and solely for others, by forfeiting her subjectivity, she has corrupted her whole being entirely.
How does Estelle's need for approval affect her moral character in No Exit?
Even though she has landed in hell, Estelle seems to have no ability to recognize her faults and wants to be admired for her beauty and charm. Upon her arrival, she tells Garcin and Inez that she suspects that she is the victim of a mistake and does not belong there at all. Because she wants them to think highly of her, she conjectures that "Stupid employees who don't know their job" have sent her there and tells them that "if they made a mistake in my case, they may have done the same about you." She tries to convince them of her goodness by telling them that she sacrificed her youth "to a man nearly three times" her age and then died of pneumonia after refusing to run off with another man. However, the truth comes out: Estelle is actually responsible for provoking the suicide of an impoverished man who loved her, whom she callously rejected. Moreover, she killed the infant they had together. Once this ugly truth is forced from her by Inez and Garcin, she tells Garcin, "I loathe you."