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Act 1: Wait for It
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
Meanwhile, an increasingly panicked Washington is trying to figure out how to keep the Americans in battle for another day. Washington wants Hamilton to provoke “outrage” in the press while laying low militarily, allowing the American forces to regroup and come back stronger.
Though the newspapers are not technically letters, they carry much the same symbolic weight: once again, the musical shows how words (and particularly emotional narratives) have the power to shape history.
Themes
To Hamilton’s outrage, Washington promotes a middling man named Charles Lee over him. At the Battle of Monmouth, Lee retreats, costing the Americans a victory. Hamilton and Lee get into a shouting match, and Hamilton wants to duel, but Washington forbids it—so Laurens volunteers to duel with Lee on his friend’s behalf.
If “Wait For It” has shown audiences the complexity and utility of Burr’s worldview, this exchange shows how Hamilton’s ambition can be a stumbling block, causing the young man to act rashly. His need to protect his honor here puts his friend Laurens’s life in danger and angers Washington, the very person he most wants impress.
Themes
