Palaces Out Of Paragraphs

By: Adair Garrett

I chose the letters of correspondence between Eliza and Alexander Hamilton.  These letters were published on “Founders Online”, which is an official website of the United States government administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.  I chose these documents because I was very interested in the love story between Hamilton and Eliza, especially since their relationship lasted through many trials and tribulations.  I also believed that choosing these documents would allow me to understand Hamilton’s true ideas about many of the choices he made as a politician since he would probably be more honest in his correspondence with his wife.  These documents are important because they include Alexander Hamilton’s honest feelings about what was occurring in his life. What I found throughout the letters was that he travelled frequently for work but seemed to always want to return home, which, for Hamilton, was with Eliza.  Hamilton writes extremely sweetly to his wife, and reading them were truly heartwarming at times.

I read through almost all of the documents available from this website to get a sense of what I wanted to use as my historical annotation piece, but I decided on the two I published for very specific reasons.  First of all, they are taken from the same date 23 years apart. Second of all, the first one took place within the week that Hamilton became George Washington’s second hand man. Finally, the last letter was written the day before his fatal duel with Aaron Burr.  These letters have helped me understand large, life-changing decisions that Hamilton made, giving me the brief summaries of his life that have a different perspective than the one that Miranda gives in his musical.

 

These letters have allowed me to challenge my ability to research and deeply understand American history in a way I’ve never had to before.  While I have enjoyed this research and newfound understanding of the founding fathers, I have struggled with finding sources for my document.  The requirement to find at least 20 sources, including five peer-reviewed, academic sources, has been difficult to fulfill. Since I’ve struggled with this, it would be really amazing if we could work as a class to compile a long and diverse list of peer-reviewed sources that we could turn to if we can’t find enough on our own.  In doing my research, I have already run into many sources that would prove more useful to other people’s research than to my own, and I believe that working collaboratively to share these resources could allow our historical annotations to be richer and more well-rounded.

by: Emily Moseley

In the Hamilton the Musical, there are lots of things going on, especially repetition. This musical is, well, full of songs that will naturally repeat lyrics at some point; however, Lin Manuel Miranda draws our attention to a few specific things in Act I with the ways he keeps coming back to them. The show is full of musical, verbal, and visual repetition. This is how he quickly establishes a relationship between the audience and the show because you become familiar with things the more you hear it. I think the rule is that you have to hear something seven times before you really memorize it; well, believe me, I have fully memorized some of these songs by now.

And this starts with the very first song: “Alexander Hamilton,” probably the most famous of them all. It establishes so much in just four minutes but has a distinct tune at the very beginning that you can hear echo throughout the rest of the show. Every time this tune plays you know that a question is being asked just like in the first song:

“How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor grow up to be a hero and a scholar?”
-A. Burr

Just by hearing this throughout the rest of the show, you’ll know what to expect. Another cue Miranda slips in there would be the choreography during “My Shot.” In this song Miranda is showing the audience a direct contrast between Hamilton and Burr (which is a constant theme in the musical) as well as giving up some choreography to look for. This is like a visual vocabulary for the audience to have as the show goes on. With a story like this you can’t be too careful in noticing all the details because of how truly complex the show is and all the information it tries to unpack.

The sheer timeline of the show is why it is so fast-paced and Miranda might have not been able to get everything into three hours if it wasn’t a hip hop musical with the ability to hide meaning in the dance moves. The dance move from “My Shot” repeats through the show letting us know that Hamilton knows what he wants and nothing can stop him from reaching his goals.

This is the kind of genius that Miranda hides in his show that adds so many layers to the meaning, and lets the audience learn things about the characters through repetition.

By: Max Jarck

The due date for the first project is still over two weeks away but June 19^th is approaching faster than I’d like to admit.  I’m still in the early stages of research but I’ve done enough where I feel comfortable giving an update.

I chose to annotate the beginning of the Pacificus-Helvidius Debate. The debate consists of argumentative essays written by founding fathers hidden by pen names. Alexander Hamilton is Pacificus while James Madison is Helvidius. The essays center around President Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) and the constitutionality of the proclamation. Hamilton defends the proclamation with strong arguments, remember from the play how much emphasis is placed on Hamilton’s writing ability. Madison attacks the proclamation but with less skill than Hamilton’s defense. The debate was published as essays in a series of newspapers over the course of 1793.

When choosing a document, I read over most of the options and tried to see what had enough information in it that could be annotated and explained. I didn’t want to pick a document and then a few weeks later realize there was very little to annotate. I find the debate fascinating because it’s a constitutional debate by two of the founding fathers; two people who have intimate knowledge of the document because they helped write it.

Research has been well honestly its been a bit rough. There isn’t a surplus of material specifically about the debate but I am digging. I’m searching databases and looking up books. I requested a book from the GT library but it turned out to be unavailable. This was a minor inconvenience but not the end of the world. The research task is tedious and pulling together all this information into annotations is a challenge. I think that it will just take time and patience and a lot of reading to complete what seems like a hard task.

 

By: Carol Rojas Ramirez

There are many different themes that make up Hamilton’s first act. I think that one of the many literary methods that Lin-Manuel Miranda utilizes to get these themes across is repetition. We see this occur not just in individual songs but across multiple songs in the first act (and of course, in the second act). This form of repetition that expands across the entire musical links the different stories together in a way that provides the listener/viewer with a broad understanding of not just the period’s history but also a character study on Alexander Hamilton.

 

I know… I’ve read a lot of other blog posts and everyone is talking about repetition, but it’s something to be studied because it’s such an integral part of this musical. A lot of the repetition, as I mentioned, has to do with Hamilton’s characterization. In a broader sense,  we understand that this story is about an ambitious man who was his own worst enemy. Throughout different songs, we get an idea as to why this is true. We start out with the first song where we get the repetition of his name, but then we move on to songs like Aaron Burr Sir, and Satisfied where we get phrases like “Just You Wait”, which help the viewer/listener understand Hamilton’s visions of grandeur and his eagerness to be the best. He says this repeatedly, which shows us that he knows he’s smart and talented and that he could be the best, but it also shows us that he doesn’t know when to shut up about it. From the first couple of songs, we get the gist… Hamilton wants it all and he wants it now. And he’s going to tell everyone until they hear him. The fact that he is so arrogant with his opinions is what is going to lead to Hamilton’s downfall (we see this with the repetition of the line, “Talk less, smile more”). Here is a good place to state that “Just you wait” is a phrase that sets the tone for the foiling that will happen between Burr and Hamilton. While Hamilton uses that line, we hear Burr say, “Wait for it”, something that provides further characterization for both Hamilton and Burr.

All these lines, which are repeated throughout, help us understand Hamilton’s ambition and his overwhelming desire to become his own man. After immigrating to New York, Hamilton views the war as a personal problem. He is eager to fight for something that he wishes will be his. He wants a home, a family, and friends (he’s basically a millennial). All these elements provide insight into the quintessential story of an immigrant. The phrase, “New York” is mentioned multiple times in many songs including, My Shot, Alexander Hamilton, and Helpless. In many ways, it is providing a setting for the characters that is familiar to the viewer. It is easy to picture sailing ships coming towards the Statue of Liberty as well as to hum the familiar, Empire State of Mind song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

As we will soon find out, however, Hamilton’s eagerness, the fact that he works himself to death (as mentioned throughout the song, Best of Wives and Best of Women), and that he never shuts up is what will be his downfall. His own ambition is his downfall. It is interesting because one of the many phrases we hear throughout the musical is “Rise Up” which is inspiring to hear, not just for the poor immigrants like Hamilton but also the colonies. However, this also provides foreshadowing of the rise and fall of a great man.

The thing is, a lot of the songs’ themes are not entirely about Hamilton nor the Revolutionary War but also touch on deeper issues such as gun violence, feminism, the Black Lives Matter movement, among others.

 

 

 

by Grace Griggs

 

In Hamilton Aaron Burr is written as a foil to Hamilton. In literary terms, a foil is a character whose differences with another character are used to highlight that character’s qualities. In this case, Burr’s similarities and differences with Hamilton are used to highlight Hamilton’s strong ambition and drive and how those affect his path in life.

Hamilton and Burr’s defining life experiences are almost identical. Both were orphaned at a young age, both graduate early from the same college, both fight under Washington and both pursue law after the war and become politicians. Despite these similarities, the two men’s attitudes and goals in life are at odds. This is immediately presented in the pair’s individual ‘mission statement’ songs, “My Shot” for Hamilton and “Wait For It” for Burr. Hamilton’s ultimate goal is to rise above his humble beginnings and build a legacy for himself. His strategy for this is to jump on any and every opportunity available to him and claw his way up from the bottom. In contrast, Burr’s plan is to keep all of his options open and wait until the perfect opportunity for him to strike. These different approaches define their actions throughout Act 1.

While Washington ignores Burr, he actively recruits Hamilton as his secretary based on Hamilton’s impulsive decision to steal cannons from the British army (“Right Hand Man”). The only time Hamilton’s impulsiveness hurts him is when he is sent home after he goes against Washington’s orders (“Meet Me Inside”). Apart from that, he is given is own command during the war (“Guns and Ships”), is chosen to represent New York at the Constitutional Convention and is chosen to be the Secretary of the Treasury (“Non-Stop”). At this point it is apparent that Hamilton’s relentless drive and impulsiveness have paid off for him, whereas Burr’s hesitation and unwillingness to pick a side have held him back.

 

It is clear that Hamilton’s approach has lead to his success both in his work and in war, but it has come at the cost of his personal life. While Burr is awed at Hamilton’s relentless work ethic, his wife Eliza begs to be involved in his life, asking for “a fraction of [his] time” (“Non-Stop”). Burr on the other hand, gives top priority to his loved ones. In “Wait For It” Burr says that Theodosia’s husband, a British officer fighting in Georgia, “can keep all of Georgia, Theodosia she’s mine”. To Burr, even the new nation he is fighting for is less important than having the woman he loves in his life.

Hamilton’s success at the expense of his personal life is countered by Burr’s relative lack of success and his happy family life. Both of these are directly due to the two’s differing goals and approaches to life. Burr and Hamilton are two side of the same coin, opposite results with the same starting conditions. Burr is still waiting for his moment and it is likely that his success will lead to Hamilton’s downfall.

By Ben Payne

While listening to Act 1 of Hamilton, it was evident to me that one of the methods Lin Manuel Miranda used to connect today’s Broadway audience with the scene of 1770s New York was by presenting New York as a place where dreams are made true. Today, New York, like Los Angeles, is seen as the place to be for young people trying to make their place in the world. Want to be a world class chef? Go to New York. Want to be an artist? Go to New York. Are you an immigrant looking to start a new life in America? Go to New York. The same holds true with Alexander Hamilton, a young man looking to make his mark and do the million things he hasn’t done yet.

Since the first performance of the song “Alexander Hamilton” at the White House, Lin Manuel Miranda has been bent on convincing us that the life of Alexander Hamilton is one that embodies hip-hop. In “Alexander Hamilton”, the repetition in the background of “In New York you can be a new man” is reminiscent of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s “Empire State of Mind”, a song about self-reinvention and the role of the city in making dreams come true.

By: Arfa Ul-Haque

Repetition is of the main techniques used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to convey themes of ambition and determination as well as to illustrate varying perspectives of the definition of success in Act I of Hamilton. It adds to the characterization of important figures in Hamilton’s life, such as his wife Eliza Schuyler and his rival Aaron Burr.

Throughout Act 1, Eliza repeats how much she wishes Hamilton could be satisfied with all he has and that she “could be enough” for him. She urges him to slow down and take in what’s around him rather than writing like he’s “running out of time.” His ambitious drive to write makes him lose sight of his family; he cares more about climbing upward and making his name in history than his home. The line “Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now” is sung by Eliza in “That Would Be Enough” to try to convince Hamilton to value the people around him. In “Non-Stop”, Hamilton repeats the line to Eliza to make her see how much needs to be done for the country coming out of a revolution and how many opportunities Hamilton is given to seize the moment.

Aaron Burr also has a major phrase repeated throughout the first act: “Talk less, smile more.” This line drives a strong contrast between the ideas of Burr and Hamilton.

Hamilton would much rather write as much as he can and face the consequences of his actions head on. He is temperamental and feels the need to argue against every opinion he disagrees with. On the other hand, Burr prefers to lay low and refuses to lend his voice in most matters. In “Wait for It”, the phrase “wait for it” is repeated by Burr himself and in the background of the song, like a consistent drumming in Burr’s mind that keeps him restrained.

“Non-Stop” contains the repetition of many phrases by each character. Burr sings “Why do you write like you’re running out of time”, comparing Hamilton’s approach to success with Burr’s mantra of waiting for it. Eliza and Angelica beg Hamilton to appreciate how much he’s accomplished and those around him by saying “Isn’t this enough?” and “He will never be satisfied”.  She sings “Stay alive. That would be enough” allowing the audience to realize that for Eliza, Hamilton is enough for her and that he doesn’t need to prove anything to her. The heartbreak in the sentiment represents that fact she wishes she was enough for Hamilton.

By layering all these repetitive lines on top of one another in the background of Hamilton repeating “I am not throwing away my shot”, Miranda illustrates Hamilton’s refusal to pay attention to those around him say, which ultimately proves to be his fatal flaw. His determination to constantly write distances him from his family and further creates the contrast between him and his rival Burr.

By: Ahad Khatri

        The way the cast members of “Hamilton” say their words aloud gives Miranda’s writing the power it needs to have the success it has. Specifically, cast members like King George, and Marquis de Lafayette use their different voices to heighten the importance of their characters, emotionalizing their audience song by song.

        First, the audience hears King George portray a somewhat eerie and playful ruler in “You’ll Be Back”; even the idea of singing a letter to American colonists makes the audience curious in what the King has to say. It is sung in a very childish tone, with repetition of sounds like “Da da da dat da dat…” as well as “Forever and ever and ever and ever…” to make it appear the King is playing with his audience  (https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-youll-be-back-lyrics). As Hamilton is a tale regarding the life of an ambitious writer during the Revolution, a very serious time, an audience member would likely question the very seriousness of this song, and thus, be confounded at King George’s lightheartedness. However, the King uses the same tone and figuratively makes a threat to the audience (“I will kill your friends and family…”), which puts them in shock (https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-youll-be-back-lyrics). The audience now knows that King George is very crafty with his words, and they do not underestimate his power in the songs to come, such as “What Comes Next?”, where he uses an identical tone. The way Miranda makes King George use his voice transforms his character from jubilant to fearful through just a few lines of writing.

        A plethora of songs later, and the audience hears Lafayette, who once struggled with the English language, (in “My Shot”, for example, he incorrectly says “’onarchy” and “panicky”), spit twenty words in about three seconds (https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-my-shot-lyrics),  during “Guns and Ships”. Clearly, Lafayette’s use of his own voice emphasizes the time it takes for his character to develop, as he progresses from a young revolutionary to an excellent military commander, with English almost as powerful as anyone in the show. When the audience hears “And I’m never gonna stop until I make ’em drop and burn ’em up and scatter their remains…”, they begin to appreciate the level of complexity that Lafayette has, as his fast-paced style of talking compares to the fast-paced style of the play itself and transforms his anxiety into eloquence (https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-guns-and-ships-lyrics). Again, the audience members feel that Lafayette is talking directly to them, which also emphasizes the immense role they have in developing his character, through their interpretation of his tone of voice. The audience further empowers Lafayette due to his character transformation, which gives Miranda’s writing more acclaim, in that he is able to morph a seemingly unimportant character, at first, into the focal point of a song!

 

 

        Overall, the way characters like King George and Lafayette are heard signify the power that tone of voice has in a play as successful as “Hamilton”. No matter how excellent the writing may be, the audience must be persuaded by the way that the writing is conveyed, which is why tone of voice matters! Miranda successfully and meticulously delivers his writing to an ecstatic audience, putting the emotions that he experienced while writing into the different voices of the cast and the overall audience.

By: Ian Byers

        Hamilton is first and foremost a musical and meant to entertain, but due to the time period which it draws from, its historical accuracy is often brought up. Although the years shortly before and after the Revolutionary War are extremely important in this country’s history, most Americans do not have a thorough understanding of this history. Many modern works, including Hamilton, attempt to use this lack of historical knowledge to push a given narrative which may not hold after further investigation.

One idea which is repeated in the first act of Hamilton is that of immigration, and specifically of Alexander Hamilton as one of America’s first and most influential immigrants. This is of course on account of Hamilton being born on the island of Nevis. However, it should be noted that Nevis, just like the Thirteen Colonies, were colonial possessions of the British Empire. Additionally, both Hamilton and his father were British citizens, his father being the son of a Scottish landowner. Considering this, it seems erroneous to label Hamilton as an immigrant. Certainly, this is not what most people mean when they talk about immigrants today.

Even if one were to uphold Hamilton’s status as an immigrant, to insinuate that he was in any way a champion of immigration, as the musical Hamilton does, would be demonstrably false. Here is a short excerpt from Hamilton’s response to then president Thomas Jefferson on the topic of immigration:

“The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”

This was not the only time that Hamilton took the anti-immigration stance. He also supported the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which made the naturalization of immigrants more difficult.

In conclusion to this analysis, it should be cautioned that no interpretative work of fiction will ever be perfectly accurate in its retelling of history. Despite this, it is also imperative to understand the motives behind any certain writing. While Miranda’s unique and stylistic songwriting has brought him success and fame, it is not beyond reproach. In the first act of Hamilton, there is a clear misrepresentation of the historical figure of Alexander Hamilton. Even though Alexander Hamilton is one of the most famous names in American history, the star character of Miranda’s musical sits firmly in the realm of fiction.

 

Works Cited

By: Clarisa Colton

An element of the writing in Hamilton that I have found interesting is the emphasis placed on the passage of time. There is a contrast apparent almost from the very beginning of the show placed between Hamilton and Burr, and one facet of this contrast is how they think about time. From the very first song, “Alexander Hamilton” (https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-alexander-hamilton-lyrics), we can see this with the line near the end where the whole cast sings, “You never learned to take your time”. As we see throughout the first act, Hamilton is very keen on getting things done quickly – he wants to make things happen, whereas Burr is more seen as someone who will sit back and wait for things to happen as they will. In addition to this, repeated throughout the song, as well as the rest of the act, is the line “Just you wait”. This also is a reference to time in a different way, in that we can see how time will pass, and things will change because of this. This is different from some of the other ways we see Hamilton talk about time, as usually there are references made to the fact that he can’t wait, so it’s interesting that this is one of the main repeated phrases throughout the musical.

It’s also interesting because Hamilton has a sense of impatience about him – perhaps the way in which the line “just you wait” is repeated is different for Hamilton than it is for Burr. Hamilton is saying, “just you wait”, because I’m here and I’m going to do something, but for Burr it’s more of a literal “just you wait”, because I’m not in any rush to get things done, although he does still want to get them done. I think a song that shows the disparity between Hamilton and Burr’s attitudes towards time is in the song “Wait for It”( https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-wait-for-it-lyrics), which is just Burr singing with the rest of the cast in the background. It basically is about how he is willing to wait for things to happen for him, in stark contrast to Hamilton.

Later on in the musical, during the song “Non-Stop”( https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-non-stop-lyrics), we can see a direct reference from Burr about Hamilton’s eagerness to finish things quickly in the lines,

Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
Write day and night like you’re running out of time?
Ev’ry day you fight, like you’re running out of time”.

Really, this whole song is referencing Hamilton’s intolerance for waiting for things to change – he wanted to change things right then and there. In the end, Hamilton’s rush to get things done was probably the best things he could’ve done, because as we all know his life was cut short. He was literally running out of time.