Had I read Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me.
lux | she/her | 18 |
hamilton/theatre sideblog
In Hamilton, women are almost always complimented in terms of their kindness or their brilliance, not their looks, and men are definitely objectified more than women are.
Angelica is the “oldest and the wittiest”; Manuel avoids having her deemed the “prettiest”, or commenting on her beauty at all, despite how easy and obvious that rhyme would be. Angelica is well-spoken, agentic, and one of the best rappers in the show. These are the qualities that are said to make her desirable.
Eliza is described as trusting, kind, an abolitionist, the best of wives and women– never is she physically described. She exhibits sexual agency in “claiming” Hamilton, and the whole show is really a story about her learning to capture agency and self-confidence in all facets of her life.
Theodosia is never described. All we hear is how much Burr loves her. Same with Theodosia junior. Peggy is never described. Even vixen honeypot Maria Reynolds is barely objectified – she displays sexual agency in initiating sex with Hamilton, and there is no lurid review of her body or looks. All we know is that she is turned on – “her body’s saying hell yes” and that she exudes the exact kind of waifish “helpless” quality Ham goes for. All in all, very little salaciousness or objectification here.
And the men? Hamilton is described as having beautiful eyes and a “hunger-pang frame”. He swans around and flashes his ass to the audience in Nonstop in a playful, cheeky way. His attractiveness is discussed at some length by Angelica.
Similarly, his son Phillip is the subject of overt, flirty banter and consensual objectification. “God you’re a fox!”, etc. He states that women talk about his physical resemblance to his father (and his attractiveness). Women are shown excitedly consenting to casual sex with him, which they partially initiated. The interaction is warm and positive.
apollofastingdionysusdrunk-deac:
but instead Eliza places the blame solely on Hamilton. the only mention of Maria is the “you published the letters she wrote you, you told the whole world how you brought this girl into our bed”. while the lines are about her, they’re still placing the entirety of the blame on Hamilton. “you brought this girl into our bed” is the exact opposite of Hamilton’s insistence that she seduced him. pretty much Elizabeth Schuyler is the best person in the musical and we don’t deserve her
Yes, I’ve noticed that too. That’s another thing I really love about the musical; the ability to acknowledge the faults of Alexander, not the romantic glorification that a lot of historians tend to fall into when discussing powerful political leaders. It’s refreshing to have dynamic women onstage that aren’t based on being resentful to each other - the Schuyler trio have a great relationship, especially Angelic and Eliza, and I’m thankful for Eliza not demonizing Maria even if an understandable impulse might be the opposite reaction.
It’s pure, stinking misogyny that James Reynolds and Alex uses sexist slang and placed the blame on Maria. Alex is a self-righteous asshole in some aspects, but his treatment of Maria is unjustified. In their affair, he still holds the power over her in gender and social position. (I’m not sure to which extent this is true or not, but her husband might possibly force her to keep on having sex w him for more blackmail cash). So yeah, Maria Reynolds is more than a vixen.
- What she says: i'm fine
- What she means: in Alexander Hamilton, Madison/Hercules Mulligan and Jefferson/Lafayette sing the line 'we fought with him' and this refers to them fighting by his side as Hercules and Lafayette and literally fighting with him in cabinet meetings as Madison and Jefferson and i'm worried that people don't realize this and it's just very important to me that people understand the true depth of lin manuel-miranda's genius