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Act 2: Burn
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
Philip is at college now, and he has grown to be just as charming and intelligent as his father. But when a young man named George Eacker mocks Hamilton in a speech, Philip is livid, challenging him to a duel in New Jersey (“everything is legal in New Jersey”).
Philip’s sense of honor is just as fierce as his father’s, and clearly, he is just as good at alienating people. As always, Hamilton finds little ways to align itself with the modern world, as in this New Jersey joke.
Themes
While the music stays cheery, Hamilton helps his son prepare for the duel. Finally, Eacker and Philip face off—but before Philip can count to 10, Eacker shoots, mortally wounding him.
Lots of symbolism collides here. The 10 counts of the duel mirror the 10 counts of Philip’s song on the piano, and sound like the “ticking clock” that Miranda references. And just as a “shot” can be both a chance or a mortally wounding bullet, the song title (“Blow Us All Away”) refers both to Philip’s promise and to his untimely death.
Themes
