One of the true and few joys of this quarantine time has been the early home release of the pro shot of Hamilton: An American Musical. We received what we have never had before: the opportunity to, at any time, watch this American masterpiece. And then do it again.
Repeated viewings of a great piece of art allow for fresh insights, novel understanding and new interpretations. Having had my own multiple viewings of the film, I had an epiphany in opposition to an earlier piece I wrote (which you can read here) that interpreted Alexander Hamilton’s non-stop writing and periodic depression as indicative of a possible bipolar mood disorder.
What I witnessed watching Lin Manuel Miranda playing the titular character is that the Hamilton of this show, and possibly the real-life man, were not suffering with a mood disorder per se but traumatic grief.
As psychologists, we often say of trauma that it causes people to run, from sitting still, from feeling, from having space and time to think and re-experience traumatic memories. Hamilton’s many traumatic losses are laid bare in the show: The death of his mother in bed next to him, the suicide of his cousin who was his guardian and the destruction of his home island Nevis to a hurricane all occur just within the first scene. While he is going to North America for a better life, one could also argue that he is trying to turn away from all of the trauma he has experienced by trying to start fresh in the “new world”.
Death and destruction follow Hamilton there, literally and figuratively. He can neither escape the memory of his past nor avoid disaster in his new home. Upon learning that his best friend, John Laurens, unexpectedly became a martyr at the end of the war, he desperately grasps the opportunity to dive into work. With tears in his eyes, he pulls away from his wife, saying, “I have so much work to do”. Later in the first act, both his sister-in-law, Angelica, and his wife, Eliza, implore him to “take a break”; he seems to consider it for a second before the reality of sitting with his feelings hits him and he recoils from the hands that have reached out to him, responding again that he has “so much work to do”.
It is not until his son, Phillip, dies in a duel that our protagonist can no longer outrun the grief and must sit with the sadness and the quiet. True to real life, it is untenable to avoid and dodge the emotions forever. It is in this stillness that Hamilton is able to reconnect with Eliza, holding each other in their shared grief. As we say in the field, the only way to the other side is through.
Best,
Dr. Drama