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Act 2: Best of Wives and Best of Women
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
As they search for a spot for their duel, Burr and Hamilton cross the water to New Jersey; they are near the spot where Philip was shot and killed. Burr points out that Hamilton was wearing his glasses at the duel—“why,” he argues, “if not to take deadly aim? / It’s him or me, the world will never be the same.” Meanwhile, Hamilton slips into a reverie, reflecting that he has spent his entire life thinking about death. He also reflects on the idea of legacy: “it’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see / America, you great unfinished symphony.”
The duel is obviously a conflict between two men, but it is also a conflict between two versions of history. In Hamilton’s version, similar to the one we read in history textbooks today, the duel represents a tragedy—a great founder’s life cut short, ensuring that he will “never get to see” the brand-new country he helped to create. But Burr tries to shift the audience’s lens, emphasizing that Hamilton was wearing his glasses. In Burr’s mind, Hamilton is the villain and the murderer; his only job now is to persuade the rest of the people in the theater to see it his way.
Themes
Hamilton thinks, finally, of Eliza, and he looks forward to seeing her in the afterlife. Then he points his gun at the sky, while Burr takes his shot, striking Hamilton in the ribs and killing him. To the tune of “Wait for It,” Burr reflects that he will forever be punished by history for his role in the duel.
By directing Hamilton’s last thought to Eliza, Miranda cements her as “part of the narrative.” Even more heartbreakingly, Hamilton throws away his shot—the very thing he vowed never to do in “My Shot.” Perhaps he is following his own advice to Philip, given much earlier in the show: “to take someone’s life, that is something you can’t shake.”
Themes
