By: Karl Risley
During their duel, Hamilton and Burr both acted opposite to their character that was portrayed in the show. In the very beginnings of the musical, Lin Manuel characterizes Hamilton as being an extremely ambitious man, taking his”shot” at all times. He never wasted an opportunity and always seemed to go out and accomplish whatever he wanted. This character trait could be expressed using many different words. Ambitious, took every chance, aggressive, determined, all words that Lin Manuel could have chosen to describe Hamilton but instead he chose “My Shot”. This choice was clearly not done by chance. I believe that Lin Manuel chose this terminology to point towards the irony present in the duel, that while all his life he did take his “shots”, when his life was on the line he wasted his last shot, firing his weapon into the air. In fact during the song, “The World Was Wide Enough”, Hamilton’s hesitation in the dueling moment was expressed in his monologue, “I see it coming, do I run or fire my gun or let it be?“.
Similarly, Burr was described early in the musical through the song “Wait for it”. Burr throughout the musical hesitated at everything he did, growing a little to be more direct towards the end of the show by taking Schuyler’s congressional chair and running for the presidency. In the duel when it counted, Burr did not wait, he took his shot and killed Hamilton. Although Burr did not die, killing Hamilton was the death of Burr in every other sense of the word publicly. Once he fired his shot in the song “The World Was Wide Enough”, Lin Manuel alludes to “Wait for it” in a very simple line spoken by Burr after it was to late, “Wait!“.
When Burr and Hamilton acted outside of their character it cost them greatly. Burr took his “shot” and Hamilton “waited” to see his fate, putting it in Burr’s hands. Lin Manuel depicts this irony by constantly emphasizing their well-established characters throughout the musical and then showing their final contradictory actions.
Why would they act against their character? I don’t think they necessarily acted against their character, I think that their actions during the duel revealed their true character. Throughout their lives, Burr and Hamilton are constantly building a public image, trying to create their own “Legacy“. Everything they did was influenced by how others would view them, not necessarily revealing their true intentions. But when their lives were on the line, Burr cowardly broke the code of honor established in Duels of the time (firing in the air) while Hamilton still upheld it. The constant embellishment of their characters in the public realm ceased during the duel, finally revealing the truth of their characters. It seems Hamilton was right when he wrote, “Mr Burr loves nothing but himself.”(https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/t-00496-028.pdf). While Burr was right when He complained of Burr’s honesty,” Why do you always say what you believe?”