Similarities Between 1984 And Hamlet

Both George Orwell's novel 1984 and William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, language plays a significant role in controlling and manipulating people. It serves as a powerful tool used by those in authority to shape perceptions, suppress dissent, and maintain control over individuals and society as a whole. In both the novel and play there were different ways language was used and both had different effects but there was one thing that was constant: the drama that is caused by it.

In 1984, the Party exploits language through the concept of Newspeak, a restricted language designed to limit the range of thought. They use Newspeak in order to control people's minds by reducing their ability to express and communicate ideas that challenge or question the Party's authority. Syme had said this: "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it,”

They language to deceive and manipulate others for their own personal gain. For instance, in Act 1, Scene 2, Claudius delivers a speech to the court to justify his hasty marriage to Queen Gertrude. He skillfully manipulates language to create a positive image of himself while deceiving the listeners. For example, "With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole," this language is used to present a distorted reality by twisting the truth with the public’s opinion to maintain his power. Another example of this is when Polonius and Claudius use Ophelia to give him back the “love letters” he had sent him. They had planted her so they could watch Hamlet and see his reaction. This is only one of the times Ophelia was used unfortunately and I believe that it was on of the reasons that drove her mad because of the trauma she was forced to