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Act 1: Dear Theodosia
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
Interrupting her husband’s hopeful mood, Eliza receives a letter from Laurens’s father with the news that Laurens has been killed in a gunfight—a pointless skirmish fought after the end of the war. For the first time in the show, Hamilton has no words. His grief is too profound to do anything but get back to work.
There was some speculation that Hamilton and Laurens were lovers, and the former’s grief in this moment could be read as supporting that theory. But more than that, the letter—a symbol of the power of language—contrasts with Hamilton’s wordlessness. Though he can change the world with writing, sometimes, even the future Treasury Secretary finds the words knocked out of him.
Themes
