The Bluestocking 2023-24

There are moments in Hamilton when it looks like Miranda will free women from this mold of the stereotypical woman. Angelica Schuyler is an example of such a female character. The first time Angelica is onstage, she turns down Aaron Burr’s advances and starts sharing her dreams for the future. She sings, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, and when I meet Thomas Jefferson I’m gonna compel him to include women in the sequel” (Miranda, 16:59-17:08). A call for equal rights! However, this moment and the possibility of a true feminist character is lost when she locks eyes with Hamilton for the first time. After this, she no longer speaks of feminism or anything other than love. She is love sick for Hamilton, singing “When I fantasize at night, it’s Alexander’s eyes. As I romanticize what might have been if I hadn’t sized him up so quickly. At least my dear Eliza’s his wife. At least I keep his eyes in my life” (Miranda, 39:03-39:27). Miranda falls back on old female stereotypes of women whose only goal in life is to meet and satisfy a man. This is both surprising and disappointing. Characters like Mariah had almost no voice, and important historical women like Thomas Jefferson’s slave Sally, and Burr’s lover Theodosia, had no voice at all. Only Eliza flipped the narrative by representing the shift of what women could achieve, but this comes at the end of the musical in the final scene and feels like an afterthought. One may have thought that Miranda could have highlighted more women in a more powerful way. Hamilton and Jane Eyre showed examples of one-dimensional women and powerful outspoken women, but the time periods they were written in suggest that Jane Eyre challenged the patriarchy more than Hamilton. Jane Eyre was written in the 19th century, and challenges the patriarchy and women’s stereotypes more so than Hamilton which was written in the 21st century. Hamilton is a retelling of history that is credited for making history inclusive and relatable with racially diverse casting. Why then are the roles of women not recast? Miranda could have been more brave: he could have cast women in male roles and given his female characters greater 44