On Gender in Hamilton

The founding of America tends to be viewed as an “old white guy” story, and while Hamilton’s casting throws out the “old white” part of the equation, it would’ve been easy for the show to be a total boys’ club.  To be sure, the Founding Fathers are all men, and they’re the big movers and shakers making things happen historically.  The women here are few.  However, both Angelica and Eliza are gorgeously-rich characters who are explored beyond their relationships with Hamilton (Eliza isn’t as strong out of the gate as Angelica, but she gets there,) and through them, the show offers a glimpse into the world of strong, intelligent women in the 18^th century.

Eliza (Hamilton’s wife) and Angelica (Eliza’s older sister whose connection to Hamilton was deep and intense) are in the show because of their ties to Hamilton, but the show doesn’t frame them the way such “important women in powerful/fascinating/history-changing men’s lives” roles usually are.  For starters, neither gets a “Who is she?” scene where Hamilton is captivated by the ravishing beauty across the room, where she becomes an object for his gaze.  In fact, both women’s first encounters with Hamilton are told from their perspectives.  If anything, he’s their object, but by this point, we’ve of course gotten to know Hamilton as his own dynamic character.

But in both potential love connections, it’s the woman’s thoughts, feelings, and impressions that drive the scene.  Eliza’s “Helpless” is fun, bouncy, and lovesick.  It may earn some side-eye for the extreme head-over-heels-ness of Eliza’s instant attraction to Hamilton, but it’s important to remember that in those days, courtship/marriage wasn’t necessarily a realm in which a woman got any say, and so it’s not for nothing that Eliza sets her sights Hamilton.  Although she knows the ball is never really in her court and her hopes depend on Hamilton’s inclinations and her father’s permission, she wants him anyway, unabashedly.  Even simple lines like, “I am so into you,” and, later, “That boy is mine,” showcase Eliza’s desire rather than her desirability.

Then, there’s Angelica’s “Satisfied,” which is incredible.  Like Eliza’s number, we see the meeting through the woman’s eyes:  Angelica connects with Hamilton immediately, electrically, but she sizes up the situation between them just as quickly.  In a dazzling cascade of lyrics, she runs down the list of reasons why she and Hamilton can’t be together.  There’s her role within society and her family:  “I’m a girl in a world in which / My only job is to marry rich. / My father has no sons, so I’m the one / Who has to social climb for one.”  Books, TV, and movies train us to think that marrying for money is always about greed, but for Angelica, it’s duty; to do what’s required of her, she has to give up what she wants most.  Plus, there’s her own status as a wealthy Schuyler sister and the pragmatic understanding that it’s a motivating factor in Hamilton’s interest.  Most of all, there’s Eliza’s clear attraction to Hamilton and Angelica’s devotion to her sister’s happiness over her own, a trait that endures throughout the show.

Apart from these phenomenal numbers, I like that we’ve already met both Angelica and Eliza by the time they encounter Hamilton.  Several scenes prior to the winter’s ball where two Schuyler sisters meet and fall for him, we’re introduced to them on their own, with sister Peggy in tow, and see the mercurial roil of pre-Revolution New York through them.  Angelica in particular has been keeping abreast of patriot publications, which she consumes eagerly but not blindly – she states her intentions to “compel [Thomas Jefferson] to include women in the sequel” regarding the innate equality of “all men.”  The men are shaping the country, but it’s not theirs alone.