“These things I call the DOLTS; death, order, love, transformation, sovereignty—these things you’ll find in the classics.”
—Greg Robin Smith
Stealing from Shakespeare
Here are 23 examples of how Lin-Manual Miranda keeps the life or death stakes (or at least conflict) in the foreground of the first act of Hamilton. And has a healthy dose of foreshadowing in the background that will pay off in act two.:
- Aaron Burr in the second song:
“Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.” - Alexander Hamilton in the third song:
“I am not throwing away my shot”
(One line that actually packs into it foreshadowing, double meaning/irony, and stakes) - Hamilton in the fourth song:
“I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.” - Lafayette/Mulligan/Laurens sing together in the fourth song:
“I may not live to see our glory!” - Peggy Schulyer in the fifth song:
“It’s bad enough there’ll be violence on our shore.” - Samuel Seabury in the sixth song:
“Chaos and bloodshed are not a solution.” - King George in the seventh song:
“Cuz when push comes to shove, I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.”
- George Washington in the eighth song:
“We are outgunned, out manned, out numbered, out planned.” - Burr in the ninth song:
“Washington hires Hamilton right on sight, But Hamilton still wants to fight.” - Hamilton in the tenth song:
“Eliza, I don’t have a dollar to my name, an acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame.” - Angelica Schulyer in the eleventh song:
“He will never be satisfied. I will never be satisfied.” - Laurens in the twelfth song:
“Well, well, I heard you’ve got someone on the side, Burr.” - Burr in the thirteenth song:
“Hamilton faces an endless uphill climb.” - George Washington in the fourteenth song:
“Stay alive ’til this horror show is past. We’re gonna fly a lot of flags half-mast.”
- Company sings in the fifteenth song:
“Pick a place to die where it’s high and dry.”
- Hamilton in the sixteenth song:
“I’m more than willing to die—” - Eliza Schulyer in the seventieth song:
”The fact that you’re alive is a miracle. Just stay alive, that would be enough.”
- Burr sings in the eighteenth song:
”How does a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower, somehow defeat a global superpower?”
- Washington in the ninetieth song:
”I led my men straight into a massacre, I witnessed their deaths first hand.”
- Hamilton in the twentieth song:
“If this is the end of me, at least I have a friend with me, weapon in my hand, a command, and my men with me.”
- King George in the twenty-first song:
“Oceans rise. Empires fall. It’s much harder when it’s all your call.”
- Burr/Hamilton in he twenty-second song:
”We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you.”
- Burr in the twenty-third song:
“Ev’ry proclamation guarantees ammunition for your enemies!”
These 23 songs take us to the intermission of Hamilton, and I’m going to pause my run of posts on the musical. I’ll switch gears in tomorrow’s post, and pick up with Hamilton down the road.
Related post:
What’s at Stake?
What’s at Stake? (David Wain)
Setups & Payoffs
Scott W. Smith