âSay No to Thisâ has 2 different stories
This is probably due to my perception (both metaphorically because itâs been years since I first watched Hamilton and also literally because now Iâm watching a clearer version) but this time around, I perceived Maria differently.Â
 Before, she seemed more liked a deviceâshe served to make me mad at Hamilton. And believe me, I was mad. (He cheated on Eliza!) Â
Thatâs really all the relevance I gave Miss Maria Reynolds. I think I low-key believed the set-up idea - she and her husband planned all this so they can profit off of Alexander - but either way I didnât give much thought to it.
This is her movement at the line Iâm so sorry to bother you at home.Â
Iâd registered that line as seductive. Listening to the soundtrack, Iâd reimagined her putting her hand to her chest, or looking forlorn, or something. But what does she do in the actual play? This juvenile little bop, like, Itâs not really a big deal that Iâm bothering you at home, right? It reminds me of a mischievous kid trying to get out of trouble.
This is mind, when she actually asks for help (My husbandâs doing me wrongâbeating me, cheating me, mistreating me) it registers as shameful and embarrassing. As if she were a fiercely independent latchkey kid ashamed at not being able to get out of this one by herself.Â
Her act of seduction is portrayed like this by Hamilton: I said, âWell I should head back homeâ / She turned red / she led me to her bed / let her legs spread / and said âStayâŠâ
When I was listening to the soundtrack, I was picturing, well, exactly that. What was Maria actually doing in the musical?
1) She gazes up at her house, not looking at Alexander at all.
2) Exactly when he says he should probably head back home, she stiffens, and her hands slowly starts to clench around her skirts,
3) She whirls around suddenly and desperately, and begs, âStay!â
Do you know what that looks like? A person, a young person, whoâs been abused and alone, and whoâs latched on to the first semi-trustworthy authority figure she spots. He helped her, didnât he? He actually did, and no oneâs helped her in such a long time. And he was so nice, offering to walk her home like that. But now heâs leaving, and what if her husband comes back? What if sheâs all alone again?Â
And she convinces him, it looks like, with the only way she knows how.
Notice her blocking during Hamiltonâs internal monologue as he prays for the strength to not break his marriage vows to his wonderful wife and extols how helpless and hot Maria looks. She approaches him purposefully, and then a tad nervously (it looks like she swallows for a second), looks at his lips, edges closer, and then turns away at the last minute.Â
I remembered this blocking, actually. Vaguely. I remembered it as seductive, an attempt to lure Hamilton in and delay gratification, leave him wanting more, as she sings her quintessential waoaoaoh.Â
What it actually looks like? Her working up the courage to seduce Alexander (to get him to stay) and then backing out at the last minute. She moves away, looks out onto the street, and makes a decision. (Who would you rather contend with, Maria? The nice man who lent you thirty dollars or the husband that beat you?)
Look at that resolute tilt of her chin. She makes a decision.
The next face she takes on shows what decision sheâs made:
She strides to him, all purpose now, and kisses him determinedly.Â
Her expression right after itâs over?
It looks more than being startled by Alexander letting go of her so quickly. Does this look like a woman who wants to seduce? Honestly, it seems more like a young person who had been relying on Alexander to say no. Who had been hoping for the authority figure to have helped her because he was kind, and not because she could seduce him. She was disappointed.
(Another observation during this sequence: Alexanderâs Lord, show me how to say no to this begins when Maria is walking towards him aggravatingly slowly. It begins again when Maria backs out of the kiss, walks away from him, and looks out onto the street, and then it becomes in my mind Iâm trying to go [go go go]. Aside from her actions, we really donât have insight to what her thoughts are, but hereâs a thought experiment: What if sheâs thinking the exact same thing?
Lord, show me how to say no to this. I donât know how to say no to this.)
This characterization that I missed the first time around - that she really is younger and less experienced than him - marks how insidious Hamiltonâs adultery really was beyond the surface. He doesnât just cheat on Elizaâhe fetishizes Maria. He infantalizes and and sexualizes her at once. (My God, she looks so helpless. And her bodyâs saying hell yes.)Â
Now that Iâm paying attention, itâs not even just her blocking. It comes out in the lyrics, too. The whole time, sheâs addressing him as sir. No other woman in the play addresses Alexander like this. Yes, itâs kinky - we hear itâs kinky because weâre in Alexanderâs perspective. Take that lens away and what we actually hear is a young woman addressing an authority figure.
What the hell, Alexander.
âI donât know about any letter!â
I had forgotten that she screams this line, not sings it.
Look at Alexanderâs reply and what heâs reinforcing here. Look at their priorities.Â
Itâs obvious that Alexanderâs being selfish. Heâs thinking about himself, his reputation, how heâs ruined. And Mariaâs concern?
It still comes down to that. She doesnât want to be alone. She doesnât want to be left to fend for herself from her brute of a husband. The man of honor whoâd helped her is yelling now, and threatening to leave, but Maria has one more trick up her sleeve, and itâs not even a surprise. Itâs the only trick up her sleeve sheâs got. Itâs the only way she can get men around her to treat her with even a smidgen of dignity.Â
This also adds another layer to Hamilton. Unlike pretty much every other song, this one doesnât quite line up with the narratorâs version of events. One could claim that the lyrics and the actions onstage donât exactly match because thatâs how it worksâI mean, itâs not as if they couldâve shown the entire affair onstage. I might agree (and I do agree in partâIâm sure some of it is symbolism due to the medium), except all the other songs move in tandem with onstage events. In Alexander Hamilton, we hear moved in with a cousin / the cousin committed suicide and then we literally see the cousin hang himself, as well as Hamiltonâs emotional reaction. Even more glaring, we hear Elizaâs then you look back at me and see Alexander glance at her. We listen to Angelicaâs the conversation lasted two minutes, maybe three minutes and are witness to the important parts of that conversation.
Say No to This is different, and perhaps one of the reasons I didnât catch what was happening was because there are two similar-looking, but but ultimately disparate stories. We hear about a temptress trying to trick Alexander out of money. We are shown a girl giving an authority figure what he wants so that he would help her.
Maria doesnât get to frame her narrativeâwe already know that from the soundtrack. What we donât realize is how much of the narrative we hear is falsified, skewed by Alexanderâs perception. What we donât see is a young woman doing what it takes to survive, someone not unlike Alexander himself. We donât see that because Alexander doesnât bring himself to try.
If thereâs one thing we learn from the musical, itâs that we donât get to control who tells our story. Maria Reynolds, who gets almost no voice, knows and exemplifies this most of all.
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