The song "Stay Alive" talks about the battle of Monmouth and the Continental armies strategy during that part of the war. The song shows this strategy is Washington's, but in reality it was General Lee's strategy. The song itself is very broad and leads us to assume that Lee was a coward which is reinforced by the quote, "Shits the bed at the battle of Monmouth". What we don't know is that Lee's actions actually saved the battle while Washington was given credit for the stalemate. By looking into the history of the battle we see that Lee was not retreating because he was a coward, but because his men were about to be annihilated by the British. In the song Lee says, "But there are so many," in a cowardly voice, but in reality this reinforces how badly things were going that they had to retreat. His retreat actually allowed Washington time to set up a defensive line while also drawing the British into an unfavorable position which allowed the battle to end in a draw. The only thing that is one hundred percent true is the fact that he wrote disrespectful letters about Washington which in the end is what did him in not that he was a coward. Why do you think Miranda shows Lee as a good for nothing coward? He of course is not one of the most popular people in U.S history because of how he treats Washington, but he should still get credit for his role in the battles eventual outcome. I feel Miranda shows him as a coward to better promote Hamilton since Lee got the job he wanted and in the great scope of the play is not a important character, so Miranda is able to do what he wants with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment