More than two centuries have passed since American icon, Alexander Hamilton, famously engaged his political rival, Aaron Burr, in the fateful duel that ultimately cost him his life. Although the 12th day of July 1804 robbed Hamilton of his last breath, it, more importantly, commenced an era of remembrance and representation of his legacy in American popular culture that continues today. Most interesting is the current heightened period of popularity Hamilton’s legacy is experiencing now, 213 years after his violent death. From a massively popular Broadway musical (See Figure 1), adapted from an equally renown historical biography (See Figure 2), as well as an HBO miniseries (See Figure 3), the personification of America’s “ten-dollar father” has erupted onto the American popular culture landscape over the last fifteen years.
This paper will explore Alexander Hamilton’s resurgence into contemporary American popular culture and the arguments surrounding the recent efforts to retell his story. While providing a summarized view of the recently produced representations of Hamilton, this paper will additionally analyze the historical accuracy of each product, and ultimately evaluate the impact each creation has had on American popular culture.
The most recent revival of Alexander Hamilton in contemporary American popular culture can be attributed mainly to the massive critically and commercially successful Broadway musical production Hamilton: an American Musical, written by and
As history is commonly viewed as dull and boring, Miranda changes this perception through the integration of popular music styles, rap and hip-hop, into the musical. While all of the facts are historically accurate, the audience is exposed to the debates through articulated rap battles and charged emotions are expressed through songs. The songs are also accompanied by choreography, which is a writing idea that is taken and exaggerated to an emotional state that is physicalized. Through these methods, the public gets an easier understanding of motives behind certain actions, such as Aaron Burr shooting Alexander Hamilton at a duel, as well as an clearer comprehension on what happened in history. Through rap and the hip hop style, music is used to keep history current, and provide stories the audience hasn’t heard before. In effect, Hamilton has inspired kids who weren’t good at history to look at a different perspective of the characters. In the musical there is no protagonist nor antagonist. Instead, all of the characters are portrayed as flawed, especially Hamilton, as he not only owned slaves, but was the center of the first political sex scandal in the United States. This allows the audience to know the characters on a realistic level, and acknowledge the fact that although Hamilton is one of the nation’s greatest founding fathers, he is also a man capable of
Legacy is the story you leave behind that future generations will know about. Hamilton: An American Musical was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and performed on Broadway. This musical is a modern interpretation of the life of one of the founding fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda expresses the theme of having to work hard to build your legacy, so your story is told throughout the performance. This Broadway show uses the literary devices of tone, allusion, and repetition to execute the theme of legacy.
To begin with, Hamilton is popular because of its music. Hamilton is the first seen rap musical in Broadway history. The musical combines the most popular genre of music in the current century with a Broadway style to portray the life of Alexander Hamilton in a series of songs. Most people adore the musical because the songs can connect to people in a way where they can listen to all of the songs on replay and still not get tired of them. They are songs that pull their audience in and keep them hooked, which is a huge factor in why thousands of people adore this musical. It all started at an airport when Lin-Manuel Miranda read, ‘Alexander Hamilton’ for the first time by Ron Chernow. From
America has long been considered a great, powerful country. From its beginning, the United States had the potential to be something revolutionary. The idea of a democracy was, in the 1700’s, strange. While many men are regarded as key elements in the birth of America, one man stands out, despite his sometimes being overshadowed by fellow Founding Fathers. Alexander Hamilton was an immigrant, soldier, and the first Secretary of the United States Treasury, among his other contributions to America. He had dreams for his adopted country and was highly determined to see them to fruition and create a new, remarkable nation. Alexander Hamilton embodies the characteristics of an epic hero because he was a great warrior, he was capable of great deeds of strength and courage, and he is a national hero.
There are many characteristics that could impact one’s life in a negative way causing them to lose everything in life such as selfishness, messiness, untrustworthiness, self-righteousness, or ego. In the award-winning musical, Hamilton: The Revolution, by Lin-Manuel-Miranda, the character of protagonist, Alexander Hamilton may be described in many ways. However, one character trait stands out among the rest. The main character trait of Alexander Hamilton, self-righteousness, shaped everything about his life: how he grew up, how he dominated in debates, and even how he fell from grace. Hamilton always stuck by his ideals, not caring whether it affected other people. These traits led him to lose and gain
Before the Revolutionary War had occurred, many people were coming to the new colonies to start a new life; one of the people was Alexander Hamilton. He had come to the colonies after impressing people in the Caribbean and who then sent him to America to get a better education (“Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton was an important figure in American history, but very few today remember who he was and what he did. Alexander Hamilton took a stand against traditional government by writing against and battling the British, fighting for the new U.S. Treasury, and arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Alexander Hamilton, recognized as one of the Founding Fathers of our country, had a great impact on the wars and political issues of his time. He presented himself as a well respected man and proved himself worthy of the tasks he was given. He impressed many people and played a substantial part in influencing where America stands today. Although his early childhood circumstances were difficult, putting him at a disadvantage, Alexander proved himself capable of achieving success all on his own, without the need of others’ assistance or provision. His efforts ultimately played a significant role in the founding of America.
Alexander Hamilton, a son, a student, a writer, a hero. To sum up all of Hamilton’s mammoth triumphs would be quite the task, but that is exactly what Ron Chernow does in his biography entitled, “Alexander Hamilton.” Published by The Penguin Press, “Alexander Hamilton,” is an incredible biography that goes through the life of Alexander Hamilton in chronological order. Chernow is successful in his effort to go deeper into the life of Hamilton by studying not only Hamilton’s life but also the lives of those Hamilton interacted with. “Alexander Hamilton,” is an incredibly well written book that gives readers an in depth description of who Hamilton was, the time he lived in, and the events that happened during his life time.
Tickets to see Hamilton: An American Musical on Broadway are sold out until mid-2017 and prices for a ticket reach up to $1,000. The hip-hopera sensation is sweeping the nation, from old people to children alike. “It is the story of America then told by America now,” explains its writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda. The show brings up current topics set in old settings and makes them new again. One would hardly think a hip hop musical about a founding father would be something to be considered worthy of literary merit, but I would go as far to say that Hamilton is just as worthy as The Color Purple and Invisible Man. It combines the old with the new, is written very intelligently, brings the story to life, sharpens the audience’s awareness of life,
There are many historical sites in New York City that have contributed and still contribute to America’s political history in some way. The historical site that I have decided to expand my research on is, the Hamilton Grange National Memorial located in Harlem, New York. This site was the home of Alexander Hamilton, one of the seven foreign-born Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He had a great influence on the foundation of the United States of America, the United States constitution and the Federalist Party. He was a Military officer, lawyer and member of the US constitutional convention, an American political philosopher, and author of the majority of the Federalist Papers.
Throughout time, art has changed the way people perceive history. Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton has had a strong influence how people view one of the Founding Fathers and the era he lived in. Before Lin Manuel-Miranda took on the task of producing a musical for Hamilton, people had an idea of who the Founding Fathers were and what they stood for. However, Manuel’s take on Hamilton wanted to present American history in which people of diverse cultures and women share the same spotlight with the Founding Fathers. In the musical, Manuel thought it was important for Hispanics and African-Americans to play as the Founding Fathers, so it reminds the audience American history is not composed of one race. Although critics, like Nichols, believe "superficial diversity” of the play’s casting results in a failure to
Oftentimes people have a difficult time connecting with history. They do not see the relevance between something hundreds of years ago and today’s issues. The Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda does a great job of bridging that gap. Many of the issues that were faced in the time period of Alexander Hamilton are also faced in the world today. An example of this is politicians riding the fence on important issues. A main character in the play is criticized greatly for doing this just as people are currently. In Miranda’s Hamilton, characters are faced with issues and are asked to take a stand just as political leaders are today.
Easily one of the most sought after artists of this age, Lin-Manuel Miranda has made a name out of himself as a creative genius. After already writing In the Heights, Miranda’s first musical to win the Tony of Best Musical, and cowriting music for another Broadway musical, Bring it On!, he shook the world by writing the hit musical Hamilton: book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to him originating the role of Alexander Hamilton. From that point on, Miranda’s career skyrocketed. Coming from humble backgrounds, Miranda uses his platform on social media to discuss topics like racial and gender inequality, as well for fighting for help for his family’s home of Puerto Rico in financial and physical distress after Hurricane Maria.
People worldwide are praising a man who doesn’t deserve it. Despite being considered one of America’s most influential founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton’s character could never compete with his political status. Alexander Hamilton has been made into an inspiration that he doesn’t deserve to be, being portrayed as the exact opposite of what he stood for in a recent resurgence of praise for him sparked in particular by the world-renowned musical Hamilton. Although he may be receiving this praise, his character is undeniably horrid due to many flaws in his character including the encouragement of anti-immigration laws and his desire for powerful landowners to get complete power in government over the
The play “Hamilton” by Lin-Manuel Miranda brings the founding fathers back to life-with a lot of hip-hop. It all started when Miranda, a writer, composer, and performer, was asked to perform at the White House centered on “the American experience.” The White House expected him to perform something based on his own Latin- American experience, but Miranda had something else in mind. Few months’ prior, Miranda was on vacation with his girlfriend when he started to read a biography on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Miranda was seized by the story of Hamilton. He was instantly inspired to create a work chronicling Hamilton’s life. He started to see Hamilton’s relentlessness, ambition, intelligence, and stubbornness through his own