What is a Legacy?: Narrative in Hamilton: An American Musical

Abstract

This thesis explores the theme of legacy in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning hip-hop musical Hamilton (2016) by ways of its relation with use of character, narrative, and hip-hop in the musical, using close reading and Life Writing. The musical is a testimony; its narrative is divided between multiple characters, most notably Eliza Hamilton, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton himself, who all three have their own opinion and perspective of the subject, Alexander Hamilton; this changes his characterization depending on who the narrator is. Furthermore, the use of hip-hop is remarkable as it is a music style with roots as a narrative technique; in the musical is used to further underline the idea that your legacy is formed by both you and those around you, as well as underlining Hamilton’s radicalization to try and regain control over his own narrative.