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Act 1: Guns and Ships
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hamilton, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Collaboration, Disagreement, and Democracy
Stories vs. History
Ambition and Mortality
Immigration and Diversity of Influence
Honor
Summary
Analysis
Washington finally gives Hamilton military command. He urges Hamilton to act with caution because his actions will be written about for ages: “history has its eyes on you.” Washington’s final word of advice is that “you have no control / who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”
Washington’s advice here becomes the single most important motif in the show. On the one hand, he reminds Hamilton that every step he takes now will be refracted through the lens of “history”—and therefore that Hamilton should be careful, acting with patience so as to preserve his honor. At the same time, though, Washington emphasizes the unpredictability of historical narrative: despite his ambition, there are too many actors and warring goals for Hamilton to have “control” over who lives to tell his “story.”
Themes
