Hamilton: The Lessons Burr Can Teach Us

In 7th grade, my family planned a huge trip to New York City. My sister’s choir was going to perform, so we claimed that we wanted to tag along and explore. That’s a lie; we tagged along for one reason and one reason only: Hamilton was playing on Broadway. The fast-paced musical had been the obsession of my theatre kid family since it came out a couple of years earlier.We even had T-shirts. This musical had revolutionized the theatre world and I was ready for it to revolutionize me. But we never got to see the show. COVID hit and the trip was cancelled. I finally got to see Hamilton just a couple of months ago on its Singapore leg. Leading up to the show, I thought Hamilton’s story would be what affected me. His son's tragedy and his questionable decisions. But the night of the show, I found myself watching a different character. I was waiting for his scenes and hanging on his every word, desperately trying to understand the way he thinks. Aaron Burr. A character so plagued by envy that it leads him to shoot Hamilton. I found that Burr teaches a very valuable lesson about envy, one that makes Hamilton a necessary watch for all.

Hamilton is a musical about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel Miranda. It involves no speaking lines, just singing, mainly rap. It was the first musical to have this format, and it changed the musical theatre community forever. For me, its representation of Burr is what changed me. In the musical, Hamilton is rising to success before his eventual scandal, all while Burr is always just one step behind him and one position below him, constantly striving for what Hamilton has.

Now I know you’re thinking, why now? What does Hamilton bring to us now, 10 years after its release? As a senior in high school, people’s university acceptances are an everyday occurrence. And as I watch my peers receive the achievement of a Columbia acceptance or Brown acceptance, I feel an envy knowing that is an achievement I will never be able to get. Even if I go on to save the world, the achievement of going to an Ivy League school will never be mine. Burr and his story can teach all high school seniors a thing or two about processing envy and individual achievement. 

At the start of Burr’s story, he reflects in the song, “Wait for It”, on his internal philosophy, how it contrasts with Hamilton’s, and why Hamilton’s seems to work so much better.He laments how he is “lying in wait”, while “Hamilton’s pace is relentless/he wastes no time.” This song comes earlier in the show, when Burr still views Hamilton in admiration, when Burr still has hope he can be Hamilton. It’s about halfway through the show where it becomes clear that Burr is envious of Hamilton. In the song “The Room Where It Happens”, Burr realizes it along with us.There’s a build-up of ensemble members repeatedly asking “What do you want, Burr?” Until he rawly says “I wanna be in the room where it happens.” Expressing his deep desire to be the most powerful, a position stolen from him by Hamilton again and again. As the show progresses, Burr accuses Hamilton of standing in his way and purposefully ruining his political career during “Your Obedient Servant”. Burr says to Hamilton, “I look back on where I failed/ And in every place I checked/ The only common thread has been your disrespect.” Burr is now blatantly blaming Hamilton for his failures, and as his emotions transform from envy, it begins to fuel hatred and vengeance.

Burr kills Hamilton. A final duel where everything comes to a head. This is the moment Burr’s envy has led him. He has acted like a gentleman his entire life but at this moment, he lets every moral he’s held his whole life go and pulls the trigger. Up to this moment, Burr has always been polite. The polite action would be to shoot the gun to the sky, and he could not do that. His envy, having built for years, has transformed into anger at Hamilton’s existence. His audacity to exist in such a manner in the places Burr believes he should be instead. So when he has the chance to pull the trigger, he can’t help it. His envy has been brewing for too long that it can no longer be hidden under pleasantries and false praise.

Hamilton is a show you absolutely must watch for many reasons, but the one I will talk about now is what it teaches you about envy. Yes, we all envy. We have all been Burr. But Burr let it go too far. Burr placed the fault of all his failures on Hamilton's back, deflecting his envy of Hamilton’s success into a hatred for Hamilton’s supposed mistreatment of Burr. The musical Hamilton shows how far envy can go, even pushing you not just to murder but to a life of regret. Burr spends the rest of his life similarly unsuccessful but now also regretful of his actions. His envy led him to nothing but a life of sorrow. Ironically, Burr wasn’t even unsuccessful in life, he just wasn’t quite as good as Hamilton. llowing envy to be your main perspective, allowing it to fester and transform, will lead you to nothing great. It won’t lead to grand award or medal, but a life with a constant weight on your shoulders.

Hamilton is a musical everyone should watch. Not only for the absolutely delightful music, but also for the life lessons it shows. Hamilton is a relatively true story, and that is why it can teach us such real lessons we need to learn. It just teaches us through fun beats.