I think that Hamilton wanted to prove he was the right choice when Washington picked him, and wanted to prove that he was more than just an illegitimate orphan. I also wonder if Washington influenced Hamilton or if Hamilton influenced Washington? Washington says, "Alex, listen. There's only one way for us to win this Provoke outrage, outright," but before that Hamilton had been saying that Washington was despondent, and he was writing all of his correspondents. I think that the thought of failure on both of their parts influenced them both to step up and take charge. Washington started dishing out orders once he found out that the calvary wasn't coming, and Hamilton backed him up the whole way, until he promoted someone else over him.
Hamilton follows Washington's orders and does exactly as he says, and expects to be promoted, but instead Charles Lee is promoted. Which turns out to be the wrong decision, because Lee is a big scaredy cat and won't step up and take charge and go for it. When Lee fails, he begins to trash talk Washington, and Hamilton isn't very happy about that but Washington says, "Don't do a thing. History will prove him wrong. We have a war to fight, let's move along." I think that Washington knew that Hamilton only wanted the best for him, but knew that if he went after Lee, that he would blow his shot so he dismissed the bad talk and moved himself, Hamilton and the war right along in order to accomplish the ultimate goal and win.
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"Stay Alive's" role in the narrative, in my opinion, is mainly to lay the groundwork for future songs like "Meet Me Inside" and "Guns and Ships." "Stay Alive" is an interesting one in terms of where Hamilton and Washington's relationship was at at that point, since they're largely at odds, and as the song goes on this becomes more and more clear. The was this Chekhov's Gun of sorts goes off later in the show is fun to watch/listen to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ian's comment. This is one of those songs that has a lot of content, but is a lot of filler. It's information that aides the story, but to me, isn't super relevant to the life of Hamilton. I think the main point of this song in the musical is to lead into the next song, which is there to preface the duels that occur later. To me, most of the historical information it provides is common knowledge to most Americans.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Ian and Anna, this song is just a song that will have information for other songs that make more of an impact in the musical. I think that Washington does see the drive that Hamilton has but doesn't know if he is the right choice or not. Yes Hamilton does have a lot of drive because he wants to be on top. When Washington chooses Lee over him he is very hurt and angry, but when Lee is too scared to step up I think Hamilton sees his time to jump in and be on Washington's side and do what Lee was suppose to do to get him right back on top.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's not the biggest song as far as character development is concerned, I think that this tells us a lot more about how Washington sees Hamilton than the other way around. Washington doesn't distrust Hamilton- Washington NEEDS Hamilton. Burr says that Hamilton is "indispensable" to Washington. Hamilton is an extremely gifted writer and leader off of the battlefield, so Washington decides to promote someone else in order to guarantee that Hamilton lives to write another day.
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