Say No To This

The song “Say No to This” is about the affair that Alexander Hamilton has with Maria Reynolds. It starts with Burr narrating the circumstances when the affair began. Hamilton then begins telling the story of how the affair started, when Maria knocked on his door and told him that her husband was beating her. The song then goes into the details of the affair, and how James Reynolds, Maria’s husband tried to extort money from Hamilton. That brings up a line where Hamilton and Maria say,” I am helpless.” The first time that I heard this I wondered if Miranda’s purpose in doing this was to show that the entire story that Maria told Hamilton about her husband was a setup in order to get money from him. The reason that I think this is because Miranda purposefully has both Maria and Hamilton say that they are helpless while Hamilton is in the midst of asking about the letter. Additionally, I think that some of Maria’s following lines are suggestive to that as well. For example, “I didn’t know any better” as well as “Just give him what he wants and you can have me.” I think that in her saying both of these things she is helping to prove that she indeed had a plan with her husband to get money out of Hamilton. If not I think that Miranda may have used a different choice in some of the words that he used, and perhaps would have had Maria try to help the situation.

Dear Theodosia

The song "Dear Theodosia" is about Burr singing to his newborn daughter, and Hamilton singing to his newborn son. The song starts off with Burr talking about how much he loves his daughter and how heartbroken he was when he saw that she was unhappy. It then goes into Hamilton talking about how he cannot even describe how amazing his son is and how happy he makes him. Both Burr and Hamilton then sing about how they didn't have a father around when they grew up, but they each will be around for their child. This brings up an interesting point of how similar Burr and Hamilton actually are. I think that Miranda was trying to use this song as a source of how the two are actually a lot more alike than you would think. He makes it a point to show that neither of the two men's father were around when they were growing up. Besides this and their newborn children, they are also both very involved in the war with the British, and in government in general. Another thing that both Burr and Hamilton say in the song is that they want to make America the best country that they can because their children will have to live there for much longer than them, and they want them to be safe. The song ends with the two men saying how they know that their child will make them extremely proud.

That Would Be Enough

In the song, "That Would Be Enough" Eliza and Alexander sing about what they have and do not have. The song starts off with the couple talking about how Eliza is pregnant, and Alexander wishing that Eliza would have told him sooner because she has known for a little over a month. The song then gets into the fact that Eliza thinks that they have enough as long as they are alive. While Hamilton thinks that they are poor, and feels bad about not being able to provide for them. I think that this is very important because this goes back to the point that Hamilton is never satisfied. Even though both him and Eliza are both healthy and alive, he feels as if they have nothing. A thought that I had about this is that it could possibly stem from the fact that he grew up as an orphan, so he never had anything to be satisfied about. However, Eliza says that they do not need money, or a legacy she just needs Alexander. That could possibly be because Eliza grew up with money her whole life, so as an adult she does not think it is important at all. Eliza also attempts to show Hamilton how lucky they are by telling him how far he has come, how proud she is of him, and how their son is going to be extremely blessed if he is anything like his father.

Satisfied

The song "Satisfied" is about when Hamilton and Angelica met, and the things that happened between that and Eliza and Hamilton’s wedding. It starts out as a toast at the wedding and then the song goes into Angelica and Hamilton meeting, why she introduced him to Eliza, and how much she still likes him. One thing that is interesting about this song is that Angelica mentions in a line that, “He’s after me because I am a Schuyler sister, that elevates his status” in which she is talking about Hamilton. This brings up an interesting question which is; did Hamilton really fall in love with Eliza or did he just want to marry a Schuyler sister? Some evidence would suggest that Alexander Hamilton only married Eliza because he could not marry Angelica and it would guarantee him some money and a higher status. That evidence being that he cheated on Eliza with the first random woman to knock on his door. Hamilton even states in a line from “Say No to This” that he was “Longing for Angelica, missing my wife.” This could suggest that Hamilton wanted Angelica all along, even quite a few years after he married Eliza. Another interesting point brought up in this song is that Hamilton is “never satisfied.” This foreshadows him cheating on Eliza, by bringing up the point that Hamilton himself said that he is never satisfied. I think that Miranda was intentionally trying to give us some information to use later, when Hamilton actually cheats on Eliza.

Helpless

The song "Helpless" is about how Eliza and Hamilton met, and the major events that led up to them getting married. It starts out with Eliza retelling how they met at a winter ball, she recalled how at first her sister went up to him and that she thought that Angelica wanted Hamilton for herself. She then states how Angelica brought Hamilton over to her and introduced them to each other, and that the two of them have been writing each other nonstop ever since. However, in this line there is a part sung by Eliza that is, "Laughin' at my sister cuz she wants to form a harem" to which Angelica replies with, "I'm just sayin' if you really loved me you would share him." This got me thinking that in doing this Miranda was trying to foreshadow the connection between Hamilton and Angelica? It makes sense because earlier in the song Angelica speaks to Hamilton first, and introduces them a bit after. Also in a later song "Satisfied" Angelica talks about how she really liked Hamilton, but only backed off because of her sister's reaction to her talking to him. Another thought that crossed my mind was that Miranda may be trying to give more evidence to support the suspicion that when Hamilton cheated on Eliza years later, Angelica was hurt that he did not cheat with her. The song continues on with Eliza mentioning how after several weeks of daily letters, Hamilton is meeting her father and asking for permission to marry her. Hamilton gets the approval of Eliza's father and she tells how excited she is about it, and how happy she is to have Hamilton. Hamilton then comes into the song saying that despite how poor he is he loves Eliza and that they will figure everything out.

The Story of Tonight

The song "The Story of Tonight" is basically about Hamilton, Lafayette, Mulligan, and Laurens discussing how the war with the British will go down in history. The men talk about how when people will look back on the war, they will talk about the four of them on that night. Another thing that they say is how even though they might not live through the war, they are glad to be involved in the fight that will affect history forever. However, a question that occurred to me was; why is Miranda having the men sing a song like this in the first place? One thing that I thought of was, perhaps in Miranda having the four men discuss this in a song, he is trying to infer that without them we would remember the Revolution in a totally different way. I think that Miranda specifically had the four of the main male characters sing a song like this because he is trying to emphasize the importance that they played in America getting freedom from the British. If he was not trying to do this I think he probably would have had more people sing the song. Additionally, in the song “freedom” is a key word that is used in almost every line because I think that Miranda was trying to make it a point that this is the most freedom that Hamilton has ever had in his life. He is trying to show that, that is why Hamilton specifically is so passionate about getting America freedom.

My Shot

The song "My Shot" is about Alexander Hamilton talking about how he does not want to throw away his shot. The first few times that I listened to this song, I just thought that it was a catchy song that tells you what it is about in the title. However, a question that crossed my mind while I was listening to it recently was; is Miranda's purpose in having this song to foreshadow that Hamilton winds up getting shot at the end? I decided to take a closer look at the lyrics and something that I noticed was that one line says "If you talk, you're gonna get shot." This alone is very interesting however, what is more so is the fact that Burr is the one who sings the line. This is important because it was Burr who ended up shooting Hamilton. Besides this, that line also gives us a bit of context as far as why Burr would be shooting Hamilton in the first place. After discovering both the line and who sings it I starting to think about the wording that Miranda used. He easily could have used another word instead of shot such as chance, however he decided to go with shot. After considering all three of these things, in my opinion it is extremely evident that Miranda was trying to foreshadow Hamilton's death, or at least the fact that someone was going to get shot and that it would be Burr who did the shooting.