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Act 2: Election of 1800
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
Burr looks back on his life and realizes that every time he has failed, Hamilton is to blame. Singing that he wants to “be in the room where it happens,” Burr challenges him to a duel. Hamilton replies with “an itemized list of 30 years of disagreements,” ratcheting the tension up even further. When Hamilton refuses to apologize, Burr names a time and place for their duel: “Weehawken. Dawn.” The history-making duel is now underway.
Many moments in the show have highlighted forgiveness: Eliza taking Hamilton’s hand, Hamilton’s national bank compromise with Jefferson and Madison, Washington’s acceptance of his own mistakes. But in “Your Obedient Servant,” neither Hamilton nor Burr can compromise—and so they resort to violence instead. The somewhat ridiculous framing of this song—in which each of the men writes letters back and forth, signing them “your obedient servant”—reveals the fallacies of honor culture.
Themes
