None of Eliza’s letters to Alexander survive, even though she worked hard to ensure that Alexander’s correspondence, including his letters to her, were preserved. She left her own feelings out of the narrative of Alexander’s life, even though she was its main curator. So what is a musical to do when representing her?

‘Hamilton’ deals with this problem by facing it head on–Eliza’s place in the narrative -is- a major part of her narrative, as she grows from outsider wanting in to the person who directs it, and from someone who asks permission to be recorded to the person proactively recording it herself. You can almost hear Lin-Manuel Miranda interrogating the problem of Eliza in every scene, in how to reclaim the story of a woman who is only included in the historical narrative as the sidenote of a wife and betrayed woman.

[…] So, with the song ‘Burn’, 'Hamilton’ turns Eliza’s anonymity into an empowering act…

'I’m erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart.’

The lyrics are pretty darn on the nose, but they’re a huge turning point for Eliza in the musical. Eliza has always said it would be enough to be let into Hamilton’s narrative, and this is the narrative legacy that he’s left her with, a legacy of cruelty done to her. A legacy of betrayal, of her naivety, and of her not being -enough-, despite her repeated begging to the contrary. The Reynolds Pamphlet caused a huge scandal, and Eliza was dragged through the mud in the media, with one newspaper famously attacking her with the words, 'Art thou a wife? See him, whom thou has chosen for the partner of this life, lolling in the lap of a harlot!’ The world has its judging eyes on her, all because of Alexander’s obsession with his legacy.

So, in the musical’s interpretation of events, Eliza does the only proactive thing she can–she erases herself from the narrative altogether.

'The world has no right to my heart…they don’t get to know what I said.’

[…] Her absence from the narrative is a choice, to prevent people from prying into her life and judging her for it against her will.

Contrast that with the very end of the musical, when Eliza sings, 'I put myself back in the narrative.’ In fact, she doesn’t just put herself back into the narrative, but puts herself in control of the musical itself, as she is the one to -create- this narrative, interviewing people and gathering letters to make sure that Alexander’s story can be told. As biographer Ron Chernow said, it would be almost impossible to have written his biography without her efforts.

But, importantly, the musical doesn’t stop there. The final song moves on, and we finally get to hear her tell -her- story, outside of Alexander… The world still has no right to her heart, but it needs to know about her accomplishments. She will no longer be part of a narrative where she is a betrayed woman, but she -will- create a narrative as an accomplished one.