The Bullet, an ensemble member with nothing to separate her from the rest but a poof of curls at the top of her head, morphs not only into a Greek Chorus member, but into a signal of death approaching until she eventually (historical spoiler alert:) approaches Hamilton at the end of the show as an embodiment of the shot that killed him.
At the start, the Bullet is indistinguishable from her fellow ensemble members. Most of the ensemble steps into the spotlight a couple times, though, as everything from named historical figures like Samuel Seabury and James Reynolds to small speaking roles, and the Bullet is no different. After âYouâll Be Back,â she steps forward for the first time as a spy receiving a letter, only to have her neck snapped by a redcoat and become the first death of the revolution. However, unlike the rest of the ensemble, who return to the anonymous chorus until their next role, the Bullet never seems to leave that first moment behind. Her next appearance as a singular character is in âStay Alive,â when she becomes the actual Bullet for the first time as she passes Hamilton by at the sound of the gunshot at the top of the song, and from that moment on, every second she is allowed the audienceâs full or even partial attention, she becomes a harbinger of death.
Though her connection to death is most apparent in Act II, she is absolutely present and aware of his role as the Bullet from the beginning. When asked about playing the Bullet in an interview with âThe Great Discontent,â Ariana DeBose, the original Bullet, said, âI always know Iâm aiming for himâeven if the rest of the ensemble members donât. So even if Iâm just a lady in a ball gown at a party, thereâs still a part of my character that knows that that moment is going to come.â Even when the spotlight is not on her, every moment the Bullet is onstage has significance. Whether itâs in âMy Shot,â when the ensemble unfreezes one by one as Hamilton moves toward them during his first recitation of the âI imagine death so much it feels more like a memoryâ monologue and the Bullet is the last one to move, her hand still outstretched toward Hamilton as he steps in front of her, or itâs in âTen Duel Commandments,â when the ensemble lines up between Hamilton and Burr, singing, âPick a place to die where itâs high and dry,â and the Bullet places herself directly at Hamiltonâs side, the connection between them is already being formed. Knowing that the Bullet is fully aware of the final meeting she and Hamilton are hurtling toward makes the short moment in âTen Duel Commandmentsâ when Hamilton looks at her lining up beside him, the only time he ever seems to truly see her before his final moments, and the pair stand side by side for numbers six and seven of the Commandments, moving through the choreography in sync, feel hugely significant in a way it never would otherwise.
Several songs later, during âYorktown,â she kills a redcoat with Laurens in South Carolina. They celebrate for a brief moment before she returns to the ensemble, and the show moves on. It until three songs later that the audience and Hamilton learn that Laurens was shot and killed in South Carolina not long after the fighting ended. It is a short and easily dismissed interaction, but this is the first moment that her actions are entwined in someoneâs death. This quick look the Bullet and Laurens share in âYorktownâ begins to feel like Laurens sealing his fate with a handshake in retrospect.
This quick tie the Bullet forms with a person as they are about to die becomes extremely important in the second act, when she really steps into her role as the Bullet. Her spoken lines, though few, are particularly significant, as every one of them eventually leads to someone getting shot â namely, Philip and Hamilton. In âBlow Us All Away,â she tells Philip exactly where to find George Eaker, the man who will kill him, singing, âI saw him just up Broadway, couple of blocks. He was going to see a play.â Philip follows her directions and challenges him to the duel that will kill him. Her only other spoken line is as one of Burrâs supporters in âThe Election of 1800,â when she says, âI canât believe weâre here with himâ and flashes Burr a large, hopeful smile. Burr leaves the exchange with a fist pump, believing he has the election in the bag, only to have that hope ripped away when Hamiltonâs support of Jefferson leads to him losing the presidency and challenging Hamilton to the duel the whole show has been foreshadowing. At the start of âYour Obedient Servant,â when Burr actually challenges Hamilton, the Bullet actually pulls Burrâs desk onto the stage and hands him his quill so that he can begin his fateful letters, edging his toward the battlefield. Every action she takes ensures that Hamilton meets her one last time.
Once she has successfully gotten the pair to pull their guns on each otherâs, she appears for a final time as the actual bullet, slowly approaching Hamilton throughout the entirety of his final monologue and coming dangerously close to him as he moves, scatter-brained, across the stage. Halfway through, he steps right in her path, turns back and stumbles out of the way, and as he frantically repeats, âRise up, rise up, rise up,â she lunges for him, only to be pulled back by another ensemble member as Eliza steps in her path. Once Hamilton has been shot, she joins the ensemble once again, satisfied that the path sheâs been on since the beginning has come to an end.
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