Author: Rachel M. Hartnett, College of Coastal Georgia, Survey of American Literature
Peer-Reviewers: Kathryn McClain and James Fleury
Website Developer: Kristen Figgins
Summary
This lesson originates from a lower-division undergraduate survey of American literature I taught at the University of Florida in Fall 2018. The course served as an introduction to well-known texts and authors of American literature, from the 16th century to the present. The course broadened each student’s understanding of the cultural, historical, and racial contexts that shaped American literature and American nationalism. Students engaged with graphic novels, poetry, short fiction, essays, governmental documents, and novels, with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton: An American Musical as the final text.
This series of lectures, which takes at least one week of class, focuses on how Miranda’s musical adapts the historical events of the American Revolution and the early years of the American government, including updates and narrative contexts. Students build on semester-long discussions about narrative history and its position as an adaptation, exemplified through the mythological frameworks surrounding the American Founding Fathers present in the musical. Discussions also include Miranda’s intentions for the musical, highlighting the immigrant identity for one of the Founding Fathers as well as his own identity as a Puerto Rican American and the son of an immigrant. Discussions of the secondary texts consider absences within the musical, including how race-bending the primary characters inadvertently silences Black and Indigenous heroes from the American Revolutionary War.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will:
- Understand how Hamilton: An American Musical builds on theater and musical influences to create a unique voice;
- Recognize literary devices, themes, and symbols utilized in the musical;
- Consider adaptive changes from American history and speculate why these alterations were made; and
- Explain how the musical both deconstructs and reinforces American mythology.
Required Readings
- Primary Reading:
- Critical Readings:
- Day Two: Amy Kaplan, “Left Alone with America,” Cultures of United States Imperialism (1993)
- Day Three: Adrienne Keene, “Where Are the Natives in Hamilton?” (2016) & Julie Grossman, “Epilogue” from Literature, Film, and Their Hideous Progeny: Adaptation and ElasTEXTity (2015)
Required Materials
- PowerPoint presentation with context, discussion notes, and links to necessary clips/images
Outline of Lessons
Opening Activity
Short individual writing response: Why does Eliza gasp at the end of the play? What does this moment signify?
Day One
The first day of discussion starts with providing key context for the musical. I utilize a PowerPoint presentation with the following information, accompanied by photos of texts and individuals:
- Context on Alexander Hamilton’s life
- Recognition of Alexander Hamilton (2004) by Ron Chernow
- Background on Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Stagings of Hamilton: An American Musical
After context, I ask students to identify themes they recognize within the musical. For those themes, I ask them to provide an example from the text where the theme is recognizable. We all review the scene and analyze it as a class. Then, I ask the class to present additional moments/scenes that demonstrate the stated theme. We continue to review and analyze these scenes until no more examples are produced. Then, as a class, we discuss why the theme is present within the text and how it works to influence the narrative.
Although I let students choose themes they personally identify, here is a list of significant themes within the musical, along with examples that illustrate them in order to facilitate conversation:
- The Immigrant Story/Experience
- Initial example = Alexander dismissed by some Founding Fathers as an immigrant
- Legacy/“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?”
- Initial example = Alexander vs. Eliza
- Death/Fear of Death
- Initial example = character called “The Bullet”
- Time/Passage of Time
- Initial example = speed of lyrics/raps for different characters
- Writing/Impact of Words
- Initial example = Alexander writing during the song “Hurricane”
Providing this context on the first day of discussion is crucial due to this lesson plan being pulled from a survey of American Literature. Most students will benefit from continued discussion of cultural and historical context as well as significant themes within the primary text. This first day creates a baseline of understanding and analysis of the musical, allowing for deeper critical conversations on the second and third days. This frame is, of course, not required for all studies of adaptations, but it is incredibly advantageous within the structure of the survey class from which this lesson plan is drawn.
Day One Discussion Questions
- What is the significance of the line “Immigrants, we get the job done!” for Miranda in particular?
- Who tells Hamilton’s story in the musical? Does he ever tell his own story?
- With the heavy theme of writing/impact of words, why did Miranda choose to stage a musical (a mix of audio, visual, non-verbal, electronic, and written modalities)?
Day Two
With the context and major themes established, the second day of class considers narrative elements of the musical for a broader understanding of the text. Here are some options for discussion with students:
Characters: Framing Devices
Two characters frame the musical: Hamilton and Burr. It is their opposition that shapes the narrative, as the play essentially starts with their meeting in New York and ends with Burr killing Hamilton in the duel. Students identify key moments in the musical that showcase their characterizations and changes over the course of the text. Overall, Hamilton’s path is from one of action to inaction, largely shaped by his own mistakes and the death of his son; Burr’s path is one of inaction to action, largely shaped by his own political aspirations and watching Hamilton’s success. Although I strongly suggest having students find and identify key moments, here are initial examples to facilitate conversation:
- Alexander Hamilton: Action to Inaction
- Initial example = “My Shot” vs “The World Was Wide Enough”
- Aaron Burr: Inaction to Action
- Initial example = “Aaron Burr, Sir” vs “Your Obedient Servant”
Design: Sound Devices
Miranda’s music is perfect for analysis of sound devices. Select a verse and analyze it. For example, this verse from the musical’s opening number, “Alexander Hamilton”:
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?
This verse utilizes assonance and consonance as well as internal rhyme structure. Almost any verse from the musical works but let students pick favorites for analysis in class.
Literary Techniques: General Terms
Lyrical analysis of Miranda’s music is also ripe for exploration as a class. Literary techniques abound in his songs. Let’s choose another verse from the musical’s opening number, “Alexander Hamilton”:
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned.
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain.
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain,
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain.
Within this verse are examples of personification (“devastation reigned”), metaphor (“his future drip, dripping down the drain”), and synecdoche (“Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain”). Ask students to dissect a song with a similar framework, and consider providing students a list of literary terms based on specific course goals.
Literary Techniques: Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing presents itself frequently throughout the musical, but particularly within the first few songs. Ask students to find examples, but here is one to start:
In “Aaron Bur, Sir,” Burr warns Hamilton to “talk less” because “Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.” This line foreshadows two deaths later in the musical. Immediately following this line is the introduction of the revolutionary group (Maquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, and John Laurens), with Laurens as the first on stage. Laurens will eventually die unlike the others in a battle with the British that took place after the official end of the Revolutionary War. However, Burr’s line also foreshadows the death of Alexander Hamilton. Burr blames Hamilton for his loss in the Election of 1800 due to Hamilton’s comments about Burr’s lack of integrity. Hamilton’s inability to “talk less’ in this case directly leads to the duel and him “wind[ing] up dead.”
Literary Techniques: Irony
Irony is also prominently featured in the musical. Again, ask students to find examples, but here is one idea:
The opening number is filled with dramatic irony, as it tells the audience exactly how everyone relates to Hamilton. In the closing moments of the song, the primary cast (minus Hamilton) assert that:
- Lafayette/Jefferson and Mulligan/Madison – “We fought with him.”
- Lafayette and Mulligan fought with Hamilton in the Revolutionary War (allies), while Jefferson and Madison fought with Hamilton in the early government (opponents)
- Laurens/Philip – “Me? I died for him.”
- Laurens dies fighting in the Revolutionary War, a cause he and Hamilton believed in, while Philip dies fighting for Hamilton’s reputation/legacy
- Washington – “Me? I trusted him.”
- Washington trusts Hamilton as a war secretary, a military commander, a key advisor in his administration, and his friend
- Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy/Maria Reynolds – “Me? I loved him.”
- Burr – “And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him.”
These lines allow for dramatic irony throughout the musical, as the audience already knows the relationships between Hamilton and the other characters. It also reminds them that Burr will eventually kill Hamilton, allowing the audience to know the fate of this Founding Father even as the characters experience the events throughout the musical.
Context: American Mythology
As context for the upcoming adaptation discussion, students can review the musical’s interpretations of the Founding Fathers. The show initially presents them as squabbling men, out for their own interests. Jefferson, for example, is not shown to be heroic but instead a villain through owning slaves and opposing Hamilton.
Conversely, however, the play creates a new mythos for Alexander Hamilton, a largely forgotten Founding Father. Hamilton is painted as an idealistic, inspirational, and tragic hero. In “Your Obedient Servant,” the musical positions his decision to prevent Burr from becoming president in 1800 via heroic terms: “I am just a guy in the public eye / Tryin’ a do my best for our republic / I don’t wanna fight / But I won’t apologize for doing what’s right.” He keeps someone morally bankrupt—who is seeking power just for power’s sake — out the presidency for the good of the country. Additionally, the play also misrepresents Hamilton’s fight for abolition (potential adaptation discussion for Day 3).
Ask students to review major moments from different Founding Fathers. Do they believe the presented legacy, or does the musical create a mythology around that character as well?
Applying the Reading: American Exceptionalism
Including Kaplan’s article, “Left Alone with America,” allows for a rich discussion of American imperialism and the myth of American exceptionalism. The musical serves to reinforce American exceptionalism through the myth of “America as the Promised Land.” For example, the musical references the Doctrine of Discovery, which established a religious, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians during the age of European colonization starting in the fifteenth century. This idea is present in the following verses from “My Shot”:
Scratch that, this is not a moment, it’s the movement
Where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went?
Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand
We roll like Moses, claimin’ our promised land
This line implies that Hamilton and the other Founding Fathers have a religious right to these lands, similar to Moses being led to the promised land by God.
Ask students to interrogate other lines that extend the narrative of American exceptionalism, with connections back to Kaplan’s article. Where do they see these narratives, and how do they impact contexts for different characters?
Day Two Discussion Questions
- Who is the hero of the play: Hamilton or Burr?
- How does the play utilize doubling for ironic effect?
- Do you think Miranda is attempting to deconstruct American mythology?
- Is he successful/unsuccessful?
Day Three
This final day of class focuses specifically on adaptation as well as the musical’s adaptational changes. The addition of the short reading from Grossman allows additional context for a rich conversation about changes and reasonings.
Adaptational Changes: Discussion of Readings
The most obvious aspect of adaptation within Hamilton is race-bending. Race-bending is a neologism that describes the changing of a character’s perceived race or ethnicity during the adaptation of a work from one medium to another. The concept was coined as a term of protest in 2009 as a response to the casting decisions for the live-action film adaptation Avatar: The Last Airbender, when the starring roles (Aang, Katara, and Sokka), intended to be of Asian and Inuit descent, were given to Caucasian actors. Within the Epilogue to her book, Literature, Film, and Their Hideous Progeny, Julie Grossman argues that “[t]he multicultural casting, as well as the centrality of Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler, in the performance, presents history as a story predicated upon class, race, and gender assumptions” (193). The cast of Black, Latina, and Asian American leads emphasizes the reality of people of color in the building and expansion of America, which is reinforced throughout the musical through lines such as “We all know who’s really doing the planting” (“Cabinet Battle #1”).
However, the race-bending leads to the erasure of historical Black and Indigenous people as well. Two of the primary erasures are Cato – the enslaved Black spy who was owned by Hercules Mulligan – and Crispus Attucks – the Afro-Indigenous sailor and the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War. In her article, Adrienne Keene argues that the erasure of the Indigenous population entirely from Hamilton: An American Musical is yet another example of the erasure of native peoples from “nearly every” form of popular culture. Keene also argues that Miranda, by purporting to retell American history in a certain way, had a duty to represent, or at least mention, the Indigenous populations: “We are still here, and are still a part of this United States of America you plopped on top of us without our consent, and deserve to be recognized. Especially in a show about our Nation’s history.” A common critique of the musical has been that, by focusing on the story of immigrants, Miranda does not include Indigenous peoples; yet, forcing groups to be “representative” or fit “the historical narrative” would also resist this focus.
Applying the Reading: Adapting an Adaptation
In her epilogue, Grossman argues that while “texts extend to different cultural moments with an altered impact, creative artists may also assert their own distinct readings of texts that pull at their elastic borders in often surprising ways.” Miranda certainly adapts the story of Alexander Hamilton, highlighting him as a Caribbean-born immigrant fighting for the American Dream. So, we practice adapting Miranda’s adaptation as a class.
Students are tasked to write an original, creative rap in the same manner as Hamilton’s multiple rap songs. Because this assignment/activity is creative, they can tackle it any way they see fit. I include a couple of potential topics/ideas to spark creativity, but their options are essentially endless.
Potential topics for rap:
- POV of a “silenced” character:
- EXAMPLES: Cato (the enslaved Black spy who was owned by Hercules Mulligan), Crispus Attucks (the Afro-Indigenous sailor and the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War)
- POV of Hamilton offering advice to a primary character from another course text on how to go about “reaching” the proverbial (and perpetually elusive) “American Dream”
- A rap about personal familial origins (in a similar fashion to Hamilton’s opening track)
Form Changes: Theater
Part of what makes Hamilton so successful is the way that it adapts and incorporates other forms of media. The musical contains references, homages, and adaptations of many previous musical theater works.
As perhaps the most obvious reference, one example includes Sherman Edwards’s 1776 (1969). Set in the lead-up to the Second Continental Congress, the musical features John Adams attempting to persuade the other Founding Fathers to sign the Declaration of Independence. A Broadway musical featuring a Founding Father was obviously an influence on Miranda as he began shaping Hamilton. Additionally, there is a direct reference to 1776 within the show. In “The Adams Administration,” John Adams fires Hamilton leading to Hamilton telling Adams to “[s]it down, John; you fat motherf****r.” This is a reference to the song, “Sit Down, John,” the first song in 1776.
Ask students to find other references to previous musical theater works and have them share discoveries with the class. After discussing these theatrical allusions and adaptations, also ask students why they think Miranda incorporated them into the musical. I let student answers guide the brief discussion, but the primary argument tends to be that the inclusion of these references highlights the legitimacy of Hamilton as a Broadway show and the credibility of Miranda using the references as ethos.
Form Changes: Rap & Hip Hop
Similar to the discussion of musical references and adaptation, I share a few examples of classic rap and hip hop within the musical. The most obvious is the way the musical positions the Cabinet Battles as classic rap battles. “Cabinet Battle #1” and “Cabinet Battle #2” both anachronistically feature microphones, likely influenced by the rap battles showcased in films such as 8 Mile. “Cabinet Battle #1” also starts with a direct address to the audience from Washington that features a shout out to the city of New York (where the United States government was functioning at the time as well as where the musical debuted): “Ladies and gentlemen, you coulda been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in New York City. Are you ready for a cabinet meeting?”
Beyond these specific songs, Miranda incorporates allusions and references to many rap songs within the musical itself. I like to ask the students if they recognize any, but it is unlikely due to the age of most of the original songs. Here are some to consider:
- A Tribe Called Quest, “Scenario”
- Beastie Boys, “Hey Ladies”
- Eminem, “Lose Yourself”
- Mod Deep, “Shook Ones, Part II”
- Grand Master Flash, “The Message”
- The Notorious B.I.G., “Juicy”
- The Notorious B.I.G., “The Ten Crack Commandments”
Again, select some references and play portions for the class. Afterward, ask why Miranda chose rap and hip hop as the vehicle for a Broadway musical about a Founding Father. Students will frequently highlight Miranda’s fondness for the genre, which is true. However, I then introduce this quote from an interview with Tommy Kail, Hamilton’s director:
“In Alexander Hamilton, you have someone born into very difficult circumstances – profound poverty, no parents, no support – who used words to elevate himself out of those circumstances, and then died violently because of those words. That’s a classic hip-hop story. It’s the story of Tupac or Big.”
Have the students interrogate this quote. Is Hamilton really a hip hop story? If so, what does this frame tell us about Hamilton, one of the men who helped shape the United States?
Narrative Influences: Changes to History
Finally, for adaptation, review changes to the history of Alexander Hamilton’s life. Here are just a few of the changes made in the musical:
- Relationship of Angelica Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton
- Duel between Charles Lee and John Laurens
- Creation and Publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet
- Eliza’s Reaction to Alexander’s Affair
- Alexander Hamilton as an Abolitionist
- Timing for Duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
With the class, select a few for consideration. I particularly like to include two sets: the examples about Philip Schuyler having more children—and sons—than depicted in the musical with Angelica already being married when she met Hamilton; and the discrepancy with the Charles Lee duel. These instances work to show how Miranda streamlined the historical record to make the musical about distinct relationships. Removing Philip Schuyler’s sons provides more urgency to Angelica Schuyler and her meeting Hamilton while single, while placing Burr in a primary role within the Charles Lee duel creates a greater rivalry between Hamilton and Burr. The Charles Lee duel also foreshadows the duel at the end, with Hamilton and Burr facing off as seconds — although in opposite roles than they will play in the final duel.
Day Three Discussion Questions
- Why is the musical called Hamilton and not Alexander Hamilton?
- Why did Miranda use the subtitle “An American Musical” for the show?
- Why is King George III the only character played by a white actor in the original cast?
- Why is George Washington the one Founding Father who is lionized in the musical?
Author Bio
Rachel M. Hartnett, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Arts and Humanities at the College of Coastal Georgia. Her research interests include postcolonialism, U.S. empire studies, popular culture, and adaptation studies. She has taught at the college/university level for over ten years and strives to make her classes as engaging and interesting as possible. She teaches courses in composition, American literature, and American studies. She has presented pedagogical research at the Southern Regional Composition Conference, South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS) Conference, and the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts. She is currently co-writing an article, “‘A Way of Experiencing the World’: Diverse Stakeholder Voices in First-Year Writing Collaborative Podcast Projects,” in preparation for submission to Pedagogy.
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