How Does Hamilton Affect The Performance Of America

Hamilton and the Performance of America Since its premiere three years ago, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway play Hamilton: An American Musical has become widely regarded as a cultural phenomenon. From the first questions it poses in the opening lyrics of “How does a bastard, orphan… grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” to the final notes of “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”, it addresses the history involved in the musical’s inception from a uniquely analytical and nuanced perspective. As a performance, it can be argued that Hamilton transforms a historic tale of conquest into a modern one. Hamilton’s core themes, history, and design create a unique portrayal of America that can be explored as a performance through the lenses of

The musical language of Hamilton is predominantly rooted in hip-hop and rap genres. These genres are among the least represented in Broadway musicals, with at most one hip-hop/rap song featuring in any given musical. However, these genres are among the most common and significant in modern popular culture. Hip-hop and rap are genres rooted in America, starting off in New York City as an underground movement in the 1970s and transforming into an art form recognized worldwide. Interestingly, the birth of these genres from the cultural clash of African-American, Latin American, and Caribbean immigrants in New York City shares parallels with the multicultural play and history that brought it into being. Miranda draws from this modern American history, and by using these modern storytelling techniques in this medium not only appeals to a broader audience that has never before had a home in Broadway musicals, but also makes a statement about the significance of the impact of minority cultures. This is just one way in which Hamilton reshapes the historical narrative to cater to a modern audience and reclaims a sense of ownership in that history, for people of all ethnicities, through

However, in order to fully understand the way in which Hamilton presents America as a nation, it is important to look at it critically from a narrative standpoint outside of historical context. Hamilton is clearly a tragedy from the start - the character of Aaron Burr states in the opening song that he is “... the damn fool that shot [Hamilton],” informing the audience from the beginning of Alexander’s inevitable demise. Hamilton draws from Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy in many ways, including how it builds the stakes of the tragedy through incidents of catharsis, or release of strong emotions. More significantly however is Aristotle’s notion of a tragic hero. Historically, this is a character that is neither entirely good nor entirely bad, and Alexander Hamilton is certainly such a character. While he is characterized as the “hero” of the narrative, in that he is the central character of the musical, his intentions are often morally ambiguous, he is quick to action and to anger in ways that arouse more pity and fear in the audience, and he makes questionable decisions that lead to the deaths and downfall of people he cares about. The character of Hamilton passes through the Aristotelian tragedy in typical fashion, from relative happiness and discovery to ultimate misfortune. As a result of writing Hamilton as a tragic hero, rather than a more relatable or sympathetic hero, Miranda reaches