Literary Analysis Of Alexander Hamilton : An American Musical

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

The musical progresses to the song “My Shot” with Hamilton adopting new goals: “He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free, / so there will be a revolution in this century. / Enter me!... Eventually, you’ll see my ascendancy” (I.3). He starts to reveal that he has picked up self-absorbed tendencies when he says, “Enter me”. Now, one can see that Hamilton’s motives have changed in the Revolution.

The musical “Hamilton” is the most sought after musical in years. It is the first seen rap musical and it has received the most ‘Tony’ awards and nominations in Broadway history. Hamilton premiered off Broadway in 2015 and soon moved to Broadway to stun the world with it’s incredible everything, from plot to casting. For best albums, Hamilton was second ranked in Billboard magazine and has got endless supply of recognition for the ingenious play written by the phenomenal Lin Manual Miranda. Hamilton is currently the most popular sensation on Broadway because of the music with its creative lyrics and hidden messages, it’s stellar performance and the perspectives it gives us on the people that founded our county. (on the people that shaped our past and developed our future).

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

Alexander Hamilton was most likely born on January 11, 1757, although the exact year of his birth is unknown. Hamilton was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis or St. Kitts to Rachel Fawcett and James Hamilton, but he spent the majority of his youth on the island of St. Croix. His formal education as a child was minimal. When his mother died in 1768, Hamilton took his

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.

As Kelly J. Mays puts it, it must be a story that “engages our emotions, our imagination, and all of our senses, as well as our intellects.” It must not be merely a story, but rather a representation of an experience, thereby becoming an experience for its audience. Hamilton, being a stage show, is going to be an immersive experience regardless of the content simply because it is being literally brought to life right in front of its audience with no middle man of the imagination involved. That being said, the content is an enormous part of what makes this story pop off the textbook page. Not only are the characters living out their lives and choices right in front of the viewer, they are involving them as well. The very first line of the show asks the audience a question: “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?” Right from the get-go, the audience is involved in the story and on the the edge of their seats to find out the two and a half hour long answer to this question. This piece fits all of Mays’s criteria for a good piece of literature. With multiple deaths, an affair, and constant struggles, all the while being told in rhyme and multiple varieties of music, this show is definitely

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.

According to Scott (2008), the Constitution of America has undergone several translations within the history of America because they found it to be unclear. Whereas it appears discrepant that the unclear Constitution could be useful, the disagreement is the case (Robertson, 2005). Americans regard the Constitution to be helpful for the reason that it allows for diverseness of views. In the history of America, a variety of thoughts would develop with alarming and formidable support through various factions (Robertson, 2005). Today, the main political arguments are presented from the Republican group or Democratic group. During the early periods of the American government, arguments on politics were made by Thomas Jefferson

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.

Hamilton’s varied narrative forms give narratives a widespread presence in the musical. These forms as physical, written, and verbal. Alexander Hamilton is introduced as “the ten-dollar Founding Father” (16). Utilizing money provides a physical narrative for Hamilton, placing the face of the man on the money in the forefront of the audience’s experience with the musical. Hamilton’s written narrative are established in “My Shot,” when he explains, “between all the bleedin’ ‘n fightin’ I’ve been readin’ ‘n writin’” (29).

Lin-Manuel Miranda the composer for “Congratulations”, also wrote and composed all the other songs in Hamilton, including the play itself, that is 46 songs in total. This particular song that he wrote was sung by the two characters Angelica Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton, these characters help you understand the theme of the song. Angelica sings about how Alexander had made a wrong decision, however, he can still give her sister the best life possible, which is the theme of you can always improve even if you are at the top. There is a second theme that goes through most of the song and that is, family is more important than love, making the song more important and relatable.

Your Obedient Servant is one of the last songs in the musical Hamilton: An American Story. This song is based off a set of interactions between the title character, Alexander Hamilton, and his antagonist, Aaron Burr. It follows the Song, Election of 1800, in which Hamilton openly supports Thomas Jefferson to become president instead of Burr after the electoral tie between the two candidates. The tension that has been growing throughout the entire musical has climaxed at that point and then the infamous duel is set. All the letters that are written to each other during the song are ended with, “your Obedient Servant,” to add humor and also a reference to the actual series of five letters sent in 1804. While this makes for fantastic theatre, it is not completely accurate. Part of what makes Lin Manuel Miranda’s writing so compelling is that he takes Aaron Burr and makes him more dimensional than the man who killed Alexander Hamilton. However, the actual exchanged letters that the song is based off of show the tension breaking by a small incident, not directly relating to the presidential race, and do not actually set the terms of the duel.