By: Zachary Frederick

For my discussion of the writing element of first act of Hamilton, I will be looking at two different aspects: some of the creative liberties taken when recounting history, and how one’s point of view dramatically changes how history is remembered.

First, one of the most important considerations in the writing of a “historical” piece such as Hamilton is how accurate the story adheres to events and details that actually transpired. So far, the show has done an exceptional job in combining significant research into the historical accuracy of the piece, and has left little room for debate regarding any “major” errors – there simply aren’t any. However, the show cannot be perfect. Some elements of history must be altered in order to be effective in keeping the shows nature as a play. For example, several times in the first act viewers might recognize that what the song depicts might be a very rapid recounting of a succession of events that could have taken even months to come to fruition. This is notable in songs such as “Aaron Burr Sir,” where we meet Burr as well as most of Hamilton’s friends. Obviously this series of events did not take place in such a rapid succession, however for convenience sake the play understandably can be lenient in historical scrutiny during instances such as these.

Second, I enjoy how the play explores the idea that history changes depending on who is giving the account. In “Helpless” as Eliza recounts the beginnings of her relationship with Hamilton, the story is told as dreamy, romantic, and almost fairy-tale like as Hamilton and Eliza fall in love and get married. Everything is given a picturesque filter, even joking about the clearly evident jealousy of Angelica. However, Angelica’s point of view in “Satisfied” tells a completely different story of the same events. This recollection confesses Angelica’s love for Hamilton, and her conscious decision to reject her own feelings and give Hamilton up to marry her sister. Whereas Eliza only knows how she so “helplessly” fell in love with Hamilton, Angelica’s story gives insight to a selfless narrative we would not have been privy to having evaluated the situation from one point of view only.

By: Karl Risley

Throughout Hamilton, Lin Manuel uses repetition for multiple purposes. For example, in “My Shot”, Lin Manuel uses the repetition of the lyric, “I am not throwing away my shot” in order to convey the intensity and drive that Hamilton carries. Similarly, this line has been repeated several times throughout the songs we have listened to so far in class, symbolizing that Hamilton’s relentless drive is still present, influencing his actions and the outcome of events in the play. This lyric first resurfaces when the company sings it in “Right Hand Man,” a song about Washington’s selection of his right hand man. Following the plot of the song, Hamilton interrupts Burr while he is talking to Washington and begins his ‘interview’ for the position. The company began to sing, “I am not throwing away my shot”, alluding to Hamilton’s previously established character, showing the audience that his drive still exists and played a major factor in the course of his life and makings of our country through repetition. Lin Manuel used a similar repetition style to carry the elements of Aaron Burr’s personality through Act one. He establishes Aaron Burr’s passive character in the song, “Wait for it”, where the lines, “I’m willing to wait for it”, and “Wait for it” were repeated many times.

 

In Lin Manuel’s “Non-Stop”, he uses repetition not only like detailed above, but also to emphasize the nature of how the words were spoken by the character. Both Hamilton’s and Aaron Burr’s established character are brought to light again repeating the lines mentioned above in the background. The repetition occurs simultaneously, musically illustrating the clashing of the two rivals.  Furthermore, Lin Manuel uses the repetition of what both Burr and Hamilton say, mainly rhetorical questions, to emphasize the struggle they face understanding each other. In several parts of the song, Burr asks rhetorically questions such as, “Why do you fight like your running out of time” and “Why do you write like your running out of time?” These questions are also repeated one after another for many lines. While the repetition shows his frustration towards Hamilton, the big clumps of repetition serve the purpose of placing the audience inside Burr’s head. Lin Manuel uses this writing style to make it seem that Burr is sharing his stream of consciousness.

 

Finally, Lin Manuel uses the repetition to carry themes throughout the musical. Most of the lyrics in “Non-stop” are exact repetitions of lyrics in past songs, providing the audience a continuous story line. For example, “Non-Stop” has copied lines from “Alexander Hamilton”, “Right Hand Man”, “My Shot”, “Wait for it” “Satisfied”, “History has its eyes on you”, “The Schuyler Sisters”, and “Helpless”. Most of these lines are written and sang all at once. Manuel uses these simultaneous repetitions to illustrate all of the pressures and events going on in Hamilton’s life at the time. The repetition culminated all of the prior themes in the play, creating connections and a cohesive musical.

By: Kristen English

Throughout Act I of Hamilton there are many similarities drawn between political and social issues that affected society in the Revolutionary era as well as in today’s modern era. These comparisons are drawn through the use of lyrics in the music as well as the musical style itself. Act I focuses on the beginning of Hamilton’s journey from a poor, fatherless child growing up in the Caribbean to one of the most influential founding fathers remembered in history today. While the entire production focuses on, as told by Miranda, “a story about America then, told by America now,”. When you look solely at the written elements through the lyrics of Act I you can definitely see the intent of Miranda’s vision.

In the first song of the show, “Alexander Hamilton”, the lyrics focus on a young immigrant boy with a dream for a brighter tomorrow. The song centers on all of the struggles Hamilton faced growing up, while also repeating the underlying question of how Hamilton reached such success in his life while faced with so many challenges and hardships. This piece is crucial to today’s modern society and its skewed view on immigration as it stands as a reminder that this country was founded on immigration and the dream for a brighter tomorrow. The number also uses repetition with the line, “In New York you can be a new man,” to reiterate the fact that New York is the home of millions of immigrants just like Hamilton who traveled there to change their lives for the better. Miranda portrays Hamilton as a, “young, scrappy, and hungry” immigrant who through hard work and perseverance became one of the most influential men in our country’s history, commemorating him as an icon of the American Dream that is still prevalent in today’s society.

Act I goes one step further to create the parallels between the past and the present economic, social, and racial issues by adapting songs from the show from current hip-hop trends at the time. The song, “Wait for It”, has been labeled by many critics as not only a song describing Burr’s character in depth but also a narrative as to the destructions behind minorities being told to wait for their time to come. While parallels are also drawn between other songs directly being influenced by popular hip-hop artists at the time, such as Notorious B.I.G and Destiny’s child, which furthers the idea that the two eras are not too far off in terms of the societal issues that are present.

I feel as if Act I did an amazing job painting the immigrant success story that this country was founded on. With Miranda being a direct descendant of Puerto Rican immigrants, I feel his intent on the entire production was to portray these social issues that existed in the past as issues that still affect the present while also portraying the image of the immigrant success story.

By: Keval Bollavaram

Act I of Hamilton summarizes Hamilton’s life and relationship with his peers. Additionally, Act I establishes the role that each character played before and during the Revolution with the key distinction being between Hamilton and Burr. Lin-Manuel Miranda effectively uses repetition throughout the first act to emphasis characteristic attributes and make comparisons between individuals. For example, in the song “Alexander Hamilton” the phrase “by being” is repeated to demonstrate the early accomplishments of Hamilton as well as his impressive character. Furthermore, in the song “Wait for It” Lin-Manuel repeats specific phrases to show the differences in the thought process of Hamilton versus Aaron Burr. When describing Burr, Lin-Manuel repeats the phrases “Wait for it,” but he uses the phrase “climb” to describe how Hamilton takes risks while Aaron Burr demands certainty.

While many songs in Act I include repetition, Lin-Manuel utilizes other literary devices to shift the audience’s attention and misdirect the audience. For example, “Guns and Ships” starts by describing a “secret weapon,” which is “an immigrant you [the audience] know and love.” In the minds of the audience, this hero is Hamilton; however, it turns out the hero is Lafayette, a French officer who would help forge an alliance between the U.S. and France. Additionally, Lin-Manuel uses contradiction in the song “Ten Duel Commandments” when Burr asks Hamilton, “can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?” This phrase is a harbinger for the Hamilton’s own demise during his duel with Burr.

Beyond including highly symbolic sequences, Lin-Manuel infuses historical references to build the plot of the musical. In the song “Guns and Ships,” the characters discuss bringing France into the war in order to end the war in Yorktown. Moreover, George Washington finally gives Hamilton a chance to command troops in Yorktown. The distinctions between Hamilton and Burr are emphasized at the end of the first act. In “Non-Stop,” Hamilton attempts to convince Burr to help write the Federalist Papers in order to defend the creation of the U.S. Constitution. Because Burr is uncertain, Hamilton along with James Madison and John Jay write the Federalist Papers without Burr. These documents are still used today to understand how the founders interpreted the Constitution.

The first act explains Hamilton’s rise to power and his influence while planting the seeds for future conflicts. At the end of the act, there is tension between Hamilton and Burr, the former becomes Treasury Secretary while the latter is still waiting for his chance.

[Blog Entry 1]

By: Adair Garrett

 

 

 

 

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the musical Hamilton to incorporate many of the sentiments of current rappers.  The well-written, short verses of the first act discuss broader issues like poverty and class disparity, a similar tactic used by many rappers today to discuss racism, police brutality, and other controversial topics.  Miranda’s lyricism and deep understanding of the recent trends in hip hop were so accurate that many of the songs from the first act have striking similarities to the key elements of the album Damn by Kendrick Lamar.  This album, released in 2017 (two years after Hamilton), recently won the Pulitzer prize for its ability to “[capture] the complexity of modern African-American life.” (Read more about that here: http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/kendrick-lamar)  

Miranda writes the story of the beginning of our country by creating a musical set in the America of today, a setting well described throughout Kendrick Lamar’s concept album Damn.  The beginning of Damn mirrors that of Hamilton with a biographical introduction.  Lamar begins his album with a story of the culture he grew up with in the album’s second song “DNA” and Miranda begins his musical by telling the beginning of Alexander Hamilton’s life in his song “Alexander Hamilton”.  Similarly, at the beginning of the musical, Miranda introduces some of the general feelings of the rest of the cast about Hamilton in this first song, while Lamar includes an excerpt from a news show where Eric Bolling says: “Lamar stated his views on police brutality with that line in the song, quote: ‘And we hate the popo, wanna kill us in the street fo’ sho’.’”  Kimberly Guilfoyle replies “ Oh please, ugh, I don’t like it.”  This brief allusion to Fox News shows a side of American society that Lamar disagrees with and continuously tears apart within his music, while Aaron Burr’s part in the song “Alexander Hamilton” shows an early opposition of beliefs that continues throughout the remainder of the musical.  

Miranda and Lamar also pick up on common themes throughout their soundtracks.  Miranda repeats the phrases “Rise up” to show Hamilton’s belief in the valor of fighting for his values.   He also reiterates words like “scrappy” or “hungry” to indicate that Hamilton came from nothing and continues to face an ever changing struggle against those who look down upon him.  Lamar, facing similar obstacles, does not state that he wants to “Rise Up” but rather asks for a helping hand from God to help him both understand and survive those who disagree with him.  In particular, the song “Fear” by Kendrick Lamar touches upon the ideas discussed throughout the first act of Hamilton.  For example, “Fear” picks up on the themes of violence (“I’ll prolly die from witnesses leavin’ me falsed accused / I’ll prolly die from thinkin’ that me and your hood was cool”) which also arise in Hamilton’s “My Shot” (“I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory / When’s it gonna get me? / In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?”).  

I would really like to know if you guys completely disagree with me or see some logic to what I arguing.  

Here are the full lyrics for Kendrick Lamar’s “Fear” or listen to the song: