The Two Minutes Hate is a break in the day in which Party members briefly stop their work routines and gather in front of a screen in order to participate in an intense expression of hatred against enemies of the state. Its overt purpose is to bind Party members in solidarity and collective purpose against those who would undermine or destroy the government of Oceania. Its covert purpose is to allow people to vent their repressed aggressions and frustrations in a socially sanctioned way. These aggressions are caused by the many deprivations and humiliations the inner Party deliberately orchestrates to keep people broken, miserable, and under control.
The Two Minutes Hate also functions as a plot device. In a society in which people are kept alienated and apart from each other—and in which too much interaction with others can potentially be a thought crime—this activity brings people together as a group. It gives Winston a chance to observe Julia, even though at first, he doesn't even know her name, and to interact as well with O'Brien, albeit fleetingly. It also shows how the Party uses propaganda to manipulate people. It reveals how quickly enemies can change, which forces people to engage in doublethink or quickly forget what they once knew in order to align with a new reality that must simultaneously be accepted as what always has been.
The Two Minutes Hate in 1984 is a daily ritual where Party members gather in front of a large telescreen and vent their rage and suppressed emotions towards flashing images of Emmanuel Goldstein and enemy soldiers. During the Two Minutes Hate, Winston and his fellow Party members feel compelled to shout, spit, and stomp in an unrestrained manner. Although Winston is a secret rebel and does not subscribe to the Party's orthodox beliefs, he cannot help but join in the ritual and release his suppressed emotions.
The main purpose of the Two Minutes Hate in the story is to underscore the Party's reliance on propaganda and illustrate the government's means of manipulating people's emotions. The intense ritual serves multiple functions and is meant as a therapeutic group exercise. This activity allows Party members to direct their suppressed, negative emotions towards an outside figure or organization, using Emmanuel Goldstein as the primary scapegoat. For example, Winston Smith cannot help but vent his rage and negative feelings he experiences on an everyday basis toward the incendiary images on the telescreen. His violent passions against the Party are redirected toward an outside image.
The Two Minutes Hate is also important to the plot of the story and is a moment when Winston Smith "connects" with O'Brien. During the ritual, Winston believes that he detects unorthodoxy in O'Brien. Winston begins to view O'Brien as an ally and writes to him in his private journal. Winston also experiences a connection with Julia, who will become a prominent figure in his life later in the story. Therefore, the Two Minutes Hate contributes to the plot of...
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the story and is a significant moment in Winston's life.
Further Reading
In 1984, the Two Minutes Hate is a collective act of affirmation in which Party members gather in front of a telescreen to express their hatred of the Party's enemies. For this two minutes, the words of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People and leader of the clandestine opposition which Winston later attempts to join, are broadcast, while his image appears on the telescreen. Orwell remarks that the program of the Two Minutes' Hate varies each day, but Goldstein is always the principal figure.
The Two Minutes Hate is important as a plot device in the story because it regularly brings Winston into contact with both Julia and O'Brien (who is a member of the Inner Party and, therefore, not someone whose life would otherwise intersect with Winston's). It is also important as a demonstration of the way in which the Party compels loyalty and orthodoxy. Although Winston does not believe all the lies about Goldstein and is not even sure that he exists, he finds that he does not need to pretend to hate the figure on the telescreen. After about thirty seconds, he feels a sense of passionate hatred for the figure on the screen and the words he hears, and he joins unaffectedly with the other Party members in their frenzy of hatred. The Party is therefore able to promote orthodoxy and cohesion at the same time.
The Two Minutes Hate is a ritual observance that is designed to use the collective rage of the people against supposed "enemies of the Party" to strengthen the Party's position among the people. The ritual serves to unify the people in the observance of the ritual.
The Two Minutes Hate also serves the purpose of religious observance by deifying Big Brother. It serves to channel the rage that persons may feel toward the lack of control over their own lives away from the Party and against purported enemies of the Party. Because Big Brother is proclaimed to be benevolent and good, any enemy is automatically evil and bad. While it is a "two minutes hate" the desired end result is less hatred of Big Brother.
This is very similar to what some politicians do to strengthen their position when they feel threatened. The politicians will invent an enemy and then channel the public rage against that enemy.
The Two Minutes Hate is a daily ritual performed by the members of the party in the book's dystopian society. During the Two Minutes Hate, the party members watch films of people like Goldstein who are enemies of the Party. They scream in hatred at these people.
The purpose of this is to help make the people lose their individuality. They are all supposed to show the same emotions about the same things at the same time. It makes them feel that they and everyone else all feel the same -- and that these feelings are what the Party tells them to have.
What is the purpose of Two Minutes Hate in 1984?
The Two Minutes Hate is an outlet for all the pent-up aggression and hostility experienced by outer Party members who live miserable lives of material deprivation and who are not supposed to enjoy sex. It occurs during the work day and focuses each person's energy on hatred of the traitor Emmanuel Goldstein. Individuals turn into a bloodthirsty mob as the hate continues, though it ends with the supposedly comforting face of Big Brother. At this point, the workers, in a delirium, start chanting "B-b! B-b!" Winston gets carried away by the hate sessions, but also loathes them. The "sub-human chanting" for Big Brother fills him with "horror."
Julia understands the Two-Minute Hate as way for the state to channel repressed and frustrated sexual energy. As she says to Winston:
All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?’
Essentially, the government of Oceania wants all its subjects' energy and loyalty to be channelled toward it and it alone, without any rivalry.
What is the purpose of Two Minutes Hate in 1984?
The Two Minutes Hate is a daily ritual where Party members gather to vent their anger, rage, and pent-up emotions towards Big Brother's most significant enemies. During the Two Minutes Hate, videos of opposing armies are displayed on the massive screen and the Party's scapegoat, Emmanuel Goldstein, uses charged anti-Big Brother rhetoric to incite the audience. The Party members participating in the Two Minutes Hate yell, spit, and throw objects at the screen as Big Brother's enemies curse his reign and threaten Oceania.
The Two Minutes Hate is an important piece of Party propaganda, which bolsters support for Big Brother while simultaneously providing an opportunity for disgruntled, irritable Party members to vent their negative emotions. The Party understands that the citizens live oppressed lives and are in need of an outlet to vent their rage. By creating a scapegoat like Emmanuel Goldstein and depicting images of enemy armies marching on Oceania, the Party successfully focuses the citizens' negative attention outward, which strengthens their control and grip over the population.
What is the purpose of Two Minutes Hate in 1984?
Part of their government's control of the population depends on their ability to convince them that there is an "enemy" out there who threatens their happiness and security, and that the government, and ONLY the government, has the power to protect them from this enemy. It is important to keep this enemy before the people and even more important that they share some kind of emotional response to this evil person. In 1984, that function is served by Goldstein. He threatens them; they get together to shout him down ... only to have him replaced by the image of Big Brother ... the one who protects them from him. It does things on the emotional level that might not work as well on the intellectual level. If you want to see how this works, just watch the Republican or Democratic National Conventions next year ....
[If you want to see how this works in the novel, buy/rent the movie version of 1984 ... the depiction of the Two Minutes Hate is excellent.]
Another thing Goldstein allows Orwell to do, rather clumisly I think, is to introduce the theoretical underpinings of the opposition when Winston gets his hands on a "copy" of "The Theory of Oligarchical Collectivism." This allows him to get information in to the story that would be difficult to include without a subservice author to present the case in his text. It's similar to what Huxley does in Brave New World when he has the "lecture" at the beginning of the book when he explains how they came to be. Sometimes it's difficult for a dystopian author to get the "facts" into the story in an economical way ... Goldstein allows Orwell to do this.
What is the purpose of Two Minutes Hate in 1984?
Two minutes hate is a way for the government to exert more control over its citizens. Essentially, it is a way for Big Brother to ensure that the public focus is on those deemed dangerous. The idea of being able to generate images of revolutionaries like Goldstein on a screen for two minutes and connect an image to the public in order to ensure that the public's understanding of enemies are the same as the government's. Two minutes hate helps to consolidate their own control of the public trust and also ensures that the public's understanding mirrors their own. In this light, it goes very far to helping to eliminate the realm of the private, making the setting all public. In being able to identify who the enemy of the nation is in the Two Minutes Hate, Big Brother develops another way of maintaining its hold in how the public thinks and who is seen as "enemy of the state."