Week 8.1: Hamilton

Reading/Listening:
Hamilton Disc 2, tracks 13-23 ("Hurricane" - "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story")

Study Questions:

1. Let us return to the question of storytelling, narratives, and legacies. What does Hamilton want the title character's legacy to be? Why is this story important at the particular moment of its creation (2015)? Why might it be important now, two years later?


2. On 8.2, we will be having our midterm. The exam will consist of short answer questions as well as a longer essay question on Hamilton. As part of your preparation for the midterm, I would like you to develop three short answer questions, one for each unit that we've done so far: Portable Enlightenment Reader, A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution, and Hamilton. I would also like you to develop an essay question about Hamilton that frames the play in light of our earlier two units. I may select questions from those that you develop.

Week 7.2: Hamilton

Reading/Listening:
Hamilton Disc 2, tracks 1-12 ("What I'd Miss" - "We Know")
FINAL PAPER #1 DUE

Study Questions:
1. "Winning is easy, governing is harder," George Washington asserts shortly after Jefferson and Hamilton have their first cabinet rap battle. In many ways, Act II is all about the difficulties of governing, of putting your ideas in motion. How does Hamilton's Jefferson live up to the aspirations of the enlightenment? How does he fail these ideals, either through inaction or because of his political needs? Similarly, how does Miranda's Hamilton live up to the ideals? How does he let them down?

2. Hamilton relies on double casting. The same actor that plays Lafayette in Act I, plays Jefferson (Daveed Diggs) in Act II. Similarly, there is double casting for the parts of Hercules Mulligan/James Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan), John Laurents/Philip Hamilton (Anthony Ramos), and Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones). Why do you think Miranda double cast these rolls the way that he did? What does it mean for the same actor to transform from Lafayette to Jefferson, from Mulligan to Madison, and Laurents to Hamilton's son?

Week 7.1: Hamilton

Reading/Listening:
Hamilton Disc 1, Tracks 13-24 ("Wait for It" - "Nonstop")


Study Questions:
1. One of the themes of Hamilton is about creating oneself through writing and storytelling and a concomitant concern about how one's story will be remembered. This will be complicated as we move to the action on the second disc. How have these concerns manifested themselves thus far?

2. Hamilton has been widely discussed because of its focus on race. However, there are also overlooked ways in which Hamilton calls attention to issues of gender equality. How have the Schuyler Sisters also brought attention to issues of gender inequality?

BONUS!
The Wall Street Times created an algorithm to track the rhymes within Hamilton. Explore the page and see how they mark the rhymes, slant rhymes, assonances, and consonances within Miranda's lyrics.

Week 6.2: Hamilton

Reading & Listening:
Hamilton Disc 1, Tracks 1-12 ("Alexander Hamilton" - "The Story of Tonight")
Painting: John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere (1768)
Note: During our Hamilton unit you will want to both listen to the music and follow along, reading the text. If you did not download the album on mp3 or buy the CD, you can still listen to it on Youtube. Regardless, you are responsible for reading the text and listening to the music.

Paper 1 Draft Due in Class.

Study Questions:

1. How does Alexander Hamilton link his own self-invention with the emancipation of the colonies from England? How does this put him at odds with his rival and friend Aaron Burr?

2. In the forty years that hip-hop has existed as a musical genre, it has traditionally sampled on the work of previous musicians and repurposed these samples to make something new and original. As one of the first hip-hop musicals, Hamilton engages in the same practices drawing on antecedents from both hip-hop and the tradition of the Broadway musical. There are too many musical references to document here. Instead, I want you to focus on the opening track "Alexander Hamilton" and one of the songs that inspired it, Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" as well as "Helpless" and Beyoncé's "Countdown." What does Lin-Manuel Miranda take from these songs in constructing his own musical? How do these reference help Miranda present Hamilton and the other characters in a new light? 

BONUS: MUSIC VIDEOS!