Place or state reserved for unrepentant sinners after death, where they suffer both separation from God, and other traditional punishments. Hell is designed by a benevolent deity, which seems surprising: Russell believed that no truly good person could ever have invented the doctrine. In the 20th century there has been a growing tendency to personalize the matter. Sartre held that hell is other people; T. S. Eliot said that hell is oneself. See also evil, problem of.