werewolfsonpage211 reblogged
a bunch of rambling thoughts about satisfied
- it starts with angelica surrounded by people, seemingly satisfied and content, and ends with her all by herself on stage, privately devastated and unsatisfied
- it’s framed like an essay. intro & thesis, three body paragraphs, conclusion and restatement of the thesis, showing her intelligence
- while analyzing alexander, even in a lovestruck daze, angelica notes that he’s penniless. this comes up again in reason one, yet is once again dismissed. his financial state doesn’t matter—eliza does.
- in the sia cover, the aforementioned singer sings both “and i knooow” and “helpless”, signifying that once angelica realizes eliza’s feelings, she is helpless to do anything but acknowledge them
- helpless is repeated by eliza, three times, one for each reason.
- angelica notes both alexander and eliza’s eyes, but never her own, symbolically linking them
- angelica also mentions “the first time i saw her face / then i turn and see my sister’s face” once again connecting the two people she loves more than anything
- “intelligent eyes” she notices his mind first, a link to schuyler sisters, “i’m looking for a mind at work”
- angelica says “mind” rather than heart during “i know my sister like i know my own mind”, showing that this is both a rational and emotional decision; she is using her head and her heart to manage this sacrifice
- angelica only says “heart” once in the whole song, with ‘set my heart aflame’
- in the first verse: “i remember that night/i remember those/i remember that dreamlike” angelica uses remember three times, and never forget for alexander, drawing attention to the line that “i have never been the same”—alexander is breaking the pattern of angelica’s world
- the fire symbolism throughout the song, in comparison to helpless which uses “drowning”. angelica “match” wits, aflame, etc. there is also electricity (ben franklin with the key and the kite), another flame-filled metaphor.
- angelica also links alexander to icarus in BURN, in this case, angelica is icarus (clothed in orange), destined to fall, and alexander is the sun. eliza (clothed in blue) is the sea, this metaphor established by helpless and then by satisfied
- angelica’s reiteration of the wedding toast is a reminder that this is all replaying with her mind; much like “i realize three fundamental truths at the exact same time”, this is all happening within a matter of seconds, showing how fast her brain truly works
- “he’d be mine” / “that boy is mine”
- angelica reflects on his eyes right before the reintroduced wedding toast, reiterating the feature she once again first noticed about him
- satisfied is in many ways a revelation on a scene we thought we previously understood. this is another callback to schuyler sisters with angelica “you want a revolution? i want a revelation!” and the other wedding-goers go “union / to the revolution” what happens next? a revelation
- “i just might regret that night for the rest of my days / i’ll never forget the first time i saw your face” regret and forget are the first half of this rhyming scheme, connecting the two. if angelica could forget her feelings for hamilton, she would not have to regret this night.
- “i’m sure you don’t know what you mean” “you’re like me: i’m never satisfied” / “nice going angelica, he was right: you will never be satisfied” angelica now painfully, acutely, understands what he was saying
- at least my dear eliza’s his wife / at least i keep his eyes in my life—rhyming scheme, in addition to showing that, even when it comes to consoling herself about losing alexander, eliza still comes first
- he will never be satisfied. i will never be satsified. is one of the only times in the song alexander and angelica are directly compared the same way that eliza & alexander are on numerous connections. a callback to “you’re like me: i’m never satisfied”
