Hamilton tempts an old theater superstition when it makes reference to William Shakespeare’s Macbeth during one of its songs. The hit Broadway musical is now streaming on Disney+ with a film made from recordings of original cast performances. Dubbed the “Hamilfilm” by fans, the Hamilton movie makes the musical available to more people than ever before and gives viewers a unique way to experience the show. Still, even with its availability as a film, Hamilton remains a stage musical first and foremost, and as such, the show includes several theater references.
These references in Hamilton range from jokes about stage directions – “Enter me! (He says in parentheses)” – to direct quotes from previous plays and musicals. Its most overt reference, however, is the way Hamilton refers to Macbeth, even provoking the play’s infamous curse. In theater communities, the curse of Macbeth brings bad luck to any theater or production where someone says the play or character’s name inside the theater, except within the context of a performance. To avoid invoking the curse, theater professionals will often refer to Macbeth as the “Scottish Play.”
Near the start of Act Two, Hamilton sees Alexander (Lin-Manuel Miranda), Eliza (Phillipa Soo), and Angelica (Renée Elise Goldsberry) sing “Take A Break,” during which Alexander sings a verse that both quotes and refers to the Scottish Play. It begins with one of Macbeth’s most famous lines: “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow/Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” This comes from a soliloquy by Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 5 of the play that finds him in despair after learning of his wife’s death. In Hamilton, the phrase is used to set up Alexander comparing his own troubles to those of Macbeth’s, with him following the direct quotation by saying: “I trust you’ll understand the reference to/Another Scottish tragedy without my having to name the play.” This is where the musical is careful, using the term “Scottish tragedy” over its true title. However, the song immediately follows that line with another directly mentioning Macbeth: “They think me Macbeth and ambition my folly.” And in doing that, Hamilton potentially invokes the curse, risking disaster on whatever theater or troupe dare to perform the musical.
![How Hamilton Tempts A Theater Superstition](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hamilton-Take-A-Break.jpg)
Of course, no terrible disasters are known to have accompanied any of the many Hamilton performances that have happened across the globe, so it isn’t as if Miranda has cursed the whole show. Miranda has pointed out, though, that the mention of Macbeth in Hamilton does occur just prior to a big turning point for Alexander – his affair with Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones). It’s arguably this moment that leads to the ruin of his reputation, troubles in his marriage, the death of son, and ultimately, Alexander’s own death. In which case, the mention of Macbeth in Hamilton isn’t cursing the show or theater, but the main character.
The poorly chosen Macbeth namedrop isn’t the end of the reference, either, because Alexander continues using the play and its characters as an allegory for his own struggles. James Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan) is compared to Banquo and Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs) to MacDuff, making plain what Alexander thinks of these men. In Macbeth, Banquo begins as an ally of Macbeth’s before turning on him, while MacDuff always opposes Macbeth. This mirrors how Madison was once an ally of Alexander’s when they worked together on the Federalist Papers, yet Jefferson was always an antagonist. The verse then ends with one final allusion comparing Congress to “Birnam Woods on its way to Dunsinane.” This is referring the end of Shakespeare’s play where MacDuff’s troops bring Birnam Woods with them when they attack Macbeth’s castle, Dunsinane, using the forest’s branches as cover and bringing the Witches’ perplexing prophecy to fruition. In the case of Hamilton, Congress refusing to pass his financial plan would be the end of his career, just as Birnam Woods coming to Dunsinane foretells Macbeth’s downfall.
Congress does pass Alexander’s financial plan, so the Birnam Woods prophecy winds up not applying here. However, the damage has already been done thanks to Miranda having written an utterance of “Macbeth” into the lyrics. When Alexander mentions the character’s name, it’s a metatextual tempting of fate that sends him on a path of destruction. Hamilton, the musical, may not suffer because of the Scottish Play’s curse, but Hamilton the character certainly does.