Okay, let's be honest: Alexander is total trash in the song, "Say No To This." For some reason, however, Lin-Manuel Miranda decides to paint Alexander as the victim here, when clearly he was the villain.
Alexander should, in my opinion have been show more at fault in many instances in this musical when he wasn't. He also shouldn't have been given as much credit as he was given, even if he was the protagonist.
Alexander did many bad things in his life, but they were written out of his narrative, which I suppose is ultimately what he would have wanted. For a long time in our nation's history, Hamilton was never really viewed as a hero until this musical came about. Now, people view him as a great guy. I don't think that he was an all around great guy, but then again none of our founding fathers were, (especially Jefferson).
So, what do you think? Was Hamilton an all around good guy, or did he have flaws? What do you think was Hamilton's biggest flaw and how was it portrayed in this musical: positively or negatively?
I don't think that Miranda painted Hamilton as the victim as much as he just offered it from his point of view. Obviously Hamilton made a poor choice, but if all the audience hears is "wow, this is a really dumb and inexcusable action," it doesn't make any sense for us to see Hamilton make the choice at all. Hamilton acknowledged that it was wrong, but the justifications were more to himself than to the audience. I don't think anyone would make a choice if in that moment they could immediately deem it inexcusable, so we see going on in Hamilton's head.
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree that Hamilton was the villain here, but you also have to keep in mind that it's a two way street. They are both at fault, and I feel bad for the other parties involved. I personally think very lowly of cheaters, and lost respect for Hamilton when he made this move. He also tried to blame his upbringing or lack there of for his bad decision. He was a grown man and knew full well what he was doing, and should have been shown no remorse. I think is one of the time where Miranda made a mistake and portrayed him in the wrong light.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has their flaws. We all want to believe that we are perfect and flawless human beings, and we want to believe that the people who founded our country were too, but thats just not true. I like your opinions on this topic Morgan, they are very well put.
ReplyDeleteMiranda, did an excellent job showing that Hamilton had super awesome qualities, but that he also could be a bad person at times, a weak one in a sort of way who could basically ruin his marriage out of lust.
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