I’ve been re-listening to the Hamilton soundtrack lately and I’m newly obsessed with the characterization of the Marquis de Lafayette. For context, Gilbert de Lafayette was demonstrably, historically, a COMPLETE MADMAN.
It wasn’t entirely his fault. His family, one of the noblest in France, had a reputation for birthing some of the batshit craziest motherfuckers ever to say “oui.” His ancestor fought with Joan of Arc. Another stole Jesus’s crown of thorns, his dad was blown up by a cannonball.
When a male Lafayette was born, the country probably audibly groaned and wondered what utter lunacy they had to look out for because the family was THAT famous for birthing brave-ass, troublemaking monster bois. Hamilton’s Lafayette did not disappoint.
When Lafayette was 14, he started training the French order of musketeers. Yes, those musketeers. He had only started training to become one three years earlier but because he was well born and martial gifted (and again, obviously insane), they made this CHILD an officer.
He married at 16, and his wife Adrienne went on to found a salon for Americans in Paris, urge George Washington to free his slaves, get arrested, survive the reign of terror, and all in all be as much as a raging badass as her husband. They were madly in love.
But back to Gil. When heard about the American cause for freedom and was like “this is entirely my shit, imma go help,” but his father in law didn’t want to enrage the king. They passed a LAW forbidding specifically Lafayette from serving in America. Checkmate, right? LOL.
Lafayette bought his own ship to sail to America and when he was in his way he found out there was a warrant for his arrest, so he sailed back to face justice....then faked his father in law and the king out by literally going SYKE and changing course to head to America anyway.
Because fuck King Louis is why.
Anyway he gets to America and they’re like “...thanks but we have a lot of Frenchmen already,” so Ben Franklin wrote a letter to congress to vouch for Lafayette, that probably said “his brain is a bag of cats but we want him on our side”
Anyway he gets to America and they’re like “...thanks but we have a lot of Frenchmen already,” so Ben Franklin wrote a letter to congress to vouch for Lafayette, that probably said “his brain is a bag of cats but we want him on our side”
With Franklin vouching for him, Lafayette got involved in the Revolution, met Hamilton, charmed George Washington so hard they became lifelong friends (Lafayette named his son Georges Washington like that’s not too fucking cute) and fulfilled his family legacy of insane bravery.
This is all to say that when Hamilton meets Lafayette in the musical, he’s an arrogant sonovabitch who calls himself Lancelot and shows off his cool pants but that’s only because the real Lafayette was a law-breaking, thrill-seeking, famously bonkers military legend from BIRTH.
So when Daveed Diggs spit bars about enraging British soldiers and re-dying their coats with their own blood, i can only imagine Lafayette was up there in crazy people heaven being like “yes this is fair.” That slightly unhinged, take-no-shit characterization is SO spot on.
