An Overtly Long Analysis of Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton sure is great, huh? When I first heard about people saying it was overrated though, I had to spend like 5 hours straight going at this, because it most certainly is not overrated. Every line, every word spoken is used well and next to nothing is wasted, on top of it just sounding great. So without further adieu, here's every single line from Hamilton's opening put under the microscope.

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Burr: How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore...

The first lines we hear in this music immediately establish a negative spin on Hamilton's character. The words bastard, orphan, and whore don't inspire positivity in most, and immediately sets us up to view Hamilton as disadvantaged and coming from a bad spot.

Burr: and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten Spot in the Caribbean by Providence, impoverished, in squalor...

The tone in this same line has now shifted to a descriptive one, where before it was condemning the bad draw Hamilton got earlier in life. This is a song full of exposition, so it makes sense to frame where he is coming from. Of course, it's important to note how secondary the neutral is to the negative.

Burr: Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

The last 4 words we hear in the first line of the musical is “hero and a scholar”, putting a positive twinge into our heads. Hamilton sure as hell isn't great now, but he will be one day, and we know it. This paragraph reminds us how this song is examining Hamilton's past, present, and future all at once, condensed into a single sentence.

Laurens: The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father...

The wordplay is obvious, but this line is important to magnify the jump in status Hamilton achieved. He was the son of a poor family and his father even ran away, but we all know his face eventually ends up on America's 10 dollar bill. The line before says he rose. This line puts in perspective how impressive it truly was.

Laurens: Got a lot farther by workin’ a lot harder, by bein’ a lot smarter, by bein’ a self-starter...

These lines lavishy praise Hamilton's intellect and work ethic, and with this the “how”of his rise slots neatly into place for the audience.

Laurens: By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter...

Hamilton isn't even an adult yet and he's in charge of something, however small. This line is fairly throwaway actually, one of the few lines merely telling us about a detail of his upbringing.

Jefferson: And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted...

Meanwhile, this line is an important reality check for any listener. Until this point we've been focusing on Hamilton, but the setting of the colonial slave trade is an important one, mainly because of how known it actually is. Only one line is needed for today's audience to instantly have a clear mental image of the tone and look of the time. It's a line that might not work a few decades down the line, but it sure does today.

Jefferson: Across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up, inside he was longing for something to be a part of, the brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter...

These lyrics are very descriptive of Hamilton's misfortunes before, mainly because we actually pick up on his story when he lands in New York. Mentioning how he “kept his guard up” or how he was ready to “beg, steal, borrow, or barter” are condensed little expository bits to give us context for what's actually about to unfold in front of us.

Madison: Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned, our man saw his future drip, drippin’ down the drain...

This is the single largest hardship Hamilton has faced before his time in America, used here as a sort of baseline for our understanding of his capabilities. Managing to survive and pull himself out of the wreckage and aftermath of a hurricane takes real effort and capability, and so a baseline for what he can absolutely do has been set.

Madison: Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain, and he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain...

Hamilton's extraordinary writing abilities are a key plot point in this musical, and we're first introduced to them here, albeit being told, not shown. How it's framed is a neat little detail, his first true achievement with words comes from “a testament to his pain”. The words are carefully placed to tell us at every turn how disadvantaged he is. His writing came from his pain of growing up, he learned to be able to beg and barter, etc. Everything positive about him is framed as a result of his negative upbringing.

Burr: Well the word got around, they said, “This kid is insane, man!”, took up a collection just to send him to the mainland...

Even in the story, people are thinking “Holy shit, this guy deserves more!” I mean if you really think about it, this song is essentially a 4 minute ego boost for Hamiton at the end of the day.

Burr: “Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came, and the world’s gonna know your name! What’s your name, man?"...

“Don't forget from whence you came”. That is brilliant foreshadowing. Of course, he's not going o forget where he cam from, but neither do his opponents. Hamilton's status as an immigrant is going to follow him and impact him for the rest of his life, and mostly for the negative.

The final words here throws the song over to Hamilton, and if you know anything about his personality there was no way anybody but himself was going to introduce him.

Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton... My name is Alexander Hamilton... And there’s a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait, just you wait...

The man himself takes careful pains to say his name twice and immediately tells us about all the stuff he is going to do. Hamilton is confident and holds a high opinion of himself from the very first line he speaks. “There's a million things I haven't done, just you wait”. That's a powerful and bold statement, and as a first line? Well, that leaves an impression.

Eliza: When he was ten, his father split, full of it, debt-ridden, two years later, see Alex and his mother, bed-ridden...

After Hamilton introduces himself, the song is finished with grand statements about his past and future. The stage has been set, there's no need for any more exposition, no need to waste any more words.

These lines may seem to state what we already know (He had a hard upbringing) but the next few lines are very important, as the audience needs to know how exactly he got to America. We know by this point that others paid for him, but besides that, nothing. That one word, “debt-ridden”, lets us know exactly why he needed said payment: his family was poor as hell, his father even abandoned him.

Eliza: Half-dead, sittin’ in their own sick, the scent thick...

Company: And Alex got better but his mother went quick...

Hah, you thought Alex just had a lot of issues with his life? Nah, he went through emotional trauma too! The whole package!

But in all seriousness, there hasn't been much emotion in his life story up until now. It's been a bunch of talk about how he worked his way up and what his future holds, but little personal stories. This line garners our sympathies and starts to get us to actually root for him on a more personal level, rather than just reading his biography. It's one thing to pull yourself out of poverty and natural disasters. It's a whole other story when one of your parents dies beside you. I think a better question is how are you not supposed to root for him now?

Washington: Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide ,left him with nothin’ but ruined pride, somethin’ new inside...

First line is just some quick reinforcement of my point earlier. Hamilton seems to have encountered misery in every part of his life, even with new housing and people. This is the last we hear of his shitty, shitty upbringing mainly because it's the last we need to hear. Missing/dead parents, hurricane, poverty, dead relatives. We've got a fairly complete idea of what he's been through now, and the song now moves away from the negativity and shifts into a breakneck pace, signalling his rise:

Washington: A voice saying "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself", he started retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf...

This line isn't so much exposition or information as the shift I mentioned earlier. It's reflecting how Hamilton is thinking now, how he (and by extension the audience) is realizing how he's gonna need to work hard to get out of this, and setting the tone and motivation for the rest of the song.

Burr: There would’ve been nothin’ left to do for someone less astute, he would’ve been dead or destitute without a cent of restitution...

A glimpse into an alternate future in a manner? If he wasn't this intelligent and skilled the song outlines exactly what would have become of him: nothing. Not even a footnote in history. How easily this could have happened is alluded to as well, if he was only slightly “less astute” he may not have made it out, even.

Burr: Started workin’, clerkin’ for his late mother’s landlord, tradin’ sugar cane and rum and other things he can’t afford,
(Scammin’) for every book he can get his hands on, (Plannin’) for the future, see him now as he stands on...

It's funny how 3 words can re contextualize an entire line into something a lot more impressive. He's managing trade of stuff he can't even afford. It's incredible how this musical as a whole is able to use so few words and lines and communicate so much. Just one line, and we know what he has done, how he's gotten there, and gotten context for why it's amazing.

As for the rest of this passage, emphasis is placed on the really important words here, words that absolutely 100% need to stick in the listener's head. The song is going at a breakneck pace now with words and lyrics flying left and right, so when there are words like this that really sum things up and need to be remembered, emphasis is duly given. Scammin' is mainly there to remind us that yes, he continues to use every tactic in the book and a few unscrupulous ones too. Plannin' also serves as emphasis on his mind and how intelligent he is.

Burr: The bow of a ship headed for a new land, in New York you can be a new man...

Aw yeah, here we go! We're now planted firmly in the present, and what better place to start than Hamilton's arrival in New York. This line is mostly just letting us know where we are now, but if you're listening along by now you're likely totally into the swing of things and pumped for this. I know I sure was.

Company: In New York you can be a new man

Hamilton: (Just you wait)
Company: In New York you can be a new man

Hamilton: (Just you wait)
Company: In New York you can be a new man...

Women: In New York...
Men: New York...

Hamilton: Just you wait...!

Just 2 real phrases in this segment, but man is a lot done with them. First, the company repeats Burr's line from before, signalling... some kind of change. It's really up for debate here. Is it a crowd? Hamilton's internal thoughts? Regardless of what this chanting is supposed to be coming from, it's clear to us now that this is no longer a mere sentence, but a powerful idea reverberating throughout the song now. It's an idea motivating Hamilton in full force now, and it cannot be stopped. In between the chants Hamilton is affirming his motivation and getting louder and louder all the while before finally taking over and practically shouting his line.

Company: Alexander Hamilton...

We are waiting in the wings for you...

Theater humour! Although this line has always struck me as a bit odd, seeing as how nobody really knew who Hamilton was when he first came to America. Perhaps a reference to his future greatness, but this is really one of the few lines that seem rather... confused, perhaps?

Company: You could never back down
You never learned to take your time

Foreshadowing....
But seriously this line is a nice little reference to future events, and also places a bit of negativity in Hamilton's future, perhaps? We of course know his future isn't all smiles and roses, and it's nice to get some acknowledgement of that here, seeing how this is a bit of a summary of his entire life.

Company: Oh, Alexander Hamilton, when America sings for you, will they know what you overcame? Will they know you rewrote the game...?

A lot of the last part of this song is just vague emotional lines, which is really fine. We don't need any more about his past, and if they spoiled his future there wouldn't be a show, obviously. It is a bit of more foreshadowing to Hamilton's unpleasant rivals and their attempts to wash records of his importance, however. Always a good idea to put lines that make it clear this isn't a straightforward story!

Company: The world will never be the same, oh...

Oh, and if the rest if the song didn't clue you in this line is basically shouting “HAMILTON WAS IMPORTANT YOU GUYS”.

Burr: The ship is in the harbor now, see if you can spot him, another immigrant comin’ up from the bottom, his enemies destroyed his rep, America forgot him...

These 3 lines accomplish 3 separate tasks very quickly. Line 1 is setting the scene up for the next song. New York City, near a harbour. Simple, but needed.

Line 2 is actually one of the most important lines in the song, at least in my opinion. A lot of grandeur has been sung about Hamilton now, which can really cloud your mind and memory to the historical reality, which is that at this point Hamilton is a nobody. Just another immigrant trying to make his way up. This is the reality, the cold truth, that he is not great, and in fact is the absolute opposite at this moment.

Line 3 is more direct foreshadowing, but it also addresses a question the listener may have. I know a lot of people who have never even heard of Hamilton outside of seeing his face on the 10 dollar bill, and a basic question many probably have is: “Why have I never heard of this guy if he's so great?” Well, here's why. It's not a prominent point in the musical, but evidently this question was anticipated and dressed. Nicely done.

Mulligan/Madison, Lafayette/Jefferson: We fought with him

Laurens/Phillip: Me? I died for him

Washington: Me? I trusted him

Angelica, Eliza, Peggy/Maria: Me? I loved him

Burr: And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him

The preceding lines before the last one are ultimately inconsequential to the overall song, besides the nice nods to how certain actors play more than one character. What I'm really interested in is Burr's line, which catches the listener totally off guard more than likely if you don't know the history here. I'll get more into why this line is so important the next time we see him (AKA the next song) but let's just say it's meant to confuse the audience about Burr, a brilliant move to be sure.

Company: There’s a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait

Burr: What’s your name, man?

Company and Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton!

A forceful retelling of the earlier idea, a callback to Hamilton's introduction, and Hamilton's very name close off this opener, leaving the stage wide open for what is to come.

Seriously, it's impressive how there's almost nothing to throw away in this opener. Every line is important, and the repeated lines are ones they want to stick in your head. Foreshadowing runs rampant while not being the main focus, and the past and future is juxtaposed to great effect. It's not one of my favourite songs to listen to, but damn if it isn't a great opening to a great musical.