Sweeney Todd Analysis

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” was originally a melodramatic gothic horror story written by the British playwright Christopher Bond. The play was inspired by the penny dreadful “The String of Pearls: A Romance” by George Dibdin-Pitt who introduced the character Sweeney Todd. In 1973, Stephen Sondheim had the opportunity to watch Christopher Bond’s “Sweeney Todd”. Sondheim found the production “charming and creepy” however it was not scary. He was inspired by the plot line and was dedicated to making the story more thrilling, he was inspired to frighten the audience. After watching Bond’s production, he was granted permission from Bond himself to produce the play as a musical.

Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods are musicals with lyrics and scores written by Stephen Sondheim. In Sweeney Todd, a barber is sent to Australia for trumped up charges while the Judge steals his wife and daughter. Barker comes back with a vengeance, renames himself Sweeney Todd and vows to make the Judge pay for what he has done. In Into the Woods, a witch has put a curse on a family for generations because the patriarch stole some vegetables from her garden. Springing from this robbery, she set a curse disallowing the family to ever bear children again. The Baker, the son of the thief, now begs the Witch to remove the curse, she sends him on a scavenger hunt and thus creates turmoil and distress for many other people. In both cases, revenge is used as a driving force for the plot. Sondheim represents the theme of revenge in both musicals as detrimental to those you love as well as a trap that can lead you into dark places.

The main problem that Todd faces is the struggle to maintain a sense of self-confidence as a result of living under his older brother’s shadow of success. Instead of becoming a lawyer like what his father expects, he has a passion for writing which contradicts with his father’s anticipation. However, unlike Neil, he keeps these thoughts and ideas to himself and dares not to speak them out loud to his parents. He remains obedient whether or not his opinions match theirs. There were various obstacles that prevented him from delivering his thoughts and he was often labeled as shy or timid. He was unable to present the well-prepared poem he wrote in front of the entire class due to these traits and the lack of self-confidence but Mr. Keating recognizes his strengths as well as his potential to do something marvelous. By using unusual techniques, Mr. Keating was able to bring out his potential and he receives one of the first applauses which was the beginning of his emerging confidence. It was evident that he debates against himself and requires a lot more courage to get up in front of everyone simply because he did not see the value in both himself and the work. The overall conflict is man vs. self and man vs. man. Most of the time he was bothered by himself for being pessimism and the fact that others have huge expectations on him due to his brother’s outstanding achievements.

Todd has taken a step closer to entering manhood, and the knife has taken a step of having less power in his eyes. When Aaron is telling Todd to kill him, Viola takes the knife and kills him, “And gravity takes his body and he slumps sideways. Away from the pulpit. And over the edge. And disappears under the wall of water. Taking the knife with him” (Ness, 463). As soon as the knife and Aaron hit the ground, all of Todd’s superiority and power is lost and he becomes a man. Todd has humbled himself and that is the real definition of a man, and Todd has to learn that.

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

The lost of innocence can totally change the way people view the world. A person who illustrates this can be found in J.D. Salinger’s novel, the Catcher in the Rye. The story happened during the 1950s, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Agerstown. A teenage boy named Holden, who witnesses the death of his older brother Allie when he was only 13 years old. Then consequently, he blames himself all his life for the death of Allie. As time went by he starts to search for a sense of innocence that was lost in the beginning of the novel. Throughout the course of the novel, the author conveys that Holden is continually stuck in between childhood and adulthood. The author uses Holden’s struggle to convey that in reality often times people who

Keating forces him to create a poem on the spot in front of the class, although he is well-aware of Todd’s resistance to speak in front of others, after he write a poem on his own as requested. Mr. Keating questions Todd and installs him with a sense of confidence in his own abilities, “Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? Isn't that your worst fear? Well, I think you're wrong. I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal”. Mr. Keating teaches Todd to think freely for himself and that these thoughts and opinions he has are valued. In the end, Todd becomes self-reliant, confident in himself and his ideas and beliefs. He does not conform to society and distinguishes himself amongst the rest, maintaining his own voice, and he overcomes his previous shy and isolated self, becoming a leader, when introduced to these ideas of individualism and

In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has recently expelled from school, had lost his younger brother to Leukemia and witnessed the suicide of one of his peers, struggles in his journey of coming of age. He isn’t fond of the idea of having to mature and be exposed to responsibilities and problems of the real world. As a result, he tries to preserve the innocence of his younger sister, Phoebe. One way in which he aims to accomplish this goal is through a Little Shirley Beans record which he buys in hopes of giving it to Phoebe. Salinger utilizes the symbol of the broken record to develop Holden’s loss of innocence and deteriorating character.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger that occurs around the 1950s. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old white male, who journeys to various places as he mourns over the death of his little brother, Allie. As a white male in a capitalist society, he has tremendous amounts of privileges that allow him to get. However, as the novel progresses, Holden describes his society as a place where honored human qualities are suppressed and capitalist ideals are embraced. Throughout the novel, we see that capitalism, “the social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, destroys the overall society for Holden and his generation (Rand).

American literature is full of classic novels containing heroic protagonists; Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye is not one of these classic heroes. The article Some Crazy Cliff by Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller Jr. provides one interpretation of the novel suggesting that the protagonist is unique compared to others commonly found in American literature; most heroes are seeking acceptance while Holden is seeking something within the society he is trying to leave. The novel follows Holden Caulfield, a young boy who recently flunked out of high school, over the course of three days. During this time, the protagonist returns to New York via train, but does not want to be with his parents until they have already learned of his

In J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher In The Rye, it starts off with young man named Holden Caulfield at his school football game at Pencey Prep talking about his life. Following that the sudden and unexpected death of his little brother Allie occurs due to cancer. Holden becomes depressed and rebellious. He is aggressive towards anything and anyone who stands in his way and will knock down anything that tries to stop him from doing whatever he wants. Holden shows that the effect of Allie’s passing dawns on him throughout his life and he greatly shows it from time to time. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden represents the voice of real people by getting expelled, being depressed, and smoking/drinking.

A musical is a form of theater that uses the song as a form of storytelling as well as regular lines of dialog. Little priest and Being alive are both great songs because of their great storytelling in their respective musicals, and for the strong feelings, they invoke. Both songs are written by the great Stephen Sondheim, who has been writing classic musicals since the 1970s and these are two of his best songs, in my mind. These songs are meant to leave a lasting impact on the audience because they end an act of their shows, thus causing them to need to end with triumph or an important message and these songs deliver. Little priest is from the musical Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which was the first musical to be counted in the horror genre. The song is what ends the first act of this show of revenge and injustice. After the title character, Sweeney Todd kills his first victim his neighbor, Mrs.Lovett, who just happens to be a struggling

Sweeney was born on October 26, 1756, in East London. His parents were both silk weavers, his father, however, was an abusive drunk. He would often come home under the influence and would beat both his wife and his only child. His mother, however, would kiss him and call him a pretty boy. Though Todd didn’t quite like that, as he’d later said, “I used to wish I was strong enough to throttle her. What the devil did she bring me into this world for, unless she had plenty of money to give me so that I might enjoy myself in it?”

After returning to the place that gave him hurt, Sweeney Todd outs two scam artists, one of them named Adolfo, who are selling a potion to a cure for hair loss and defeats them in a shaving competition. The song at this arc that stands out the most is The Contest, not because it is centered on this scenario, but because the visionaries of the play and film adaption did an excellent job in portraying the times of penny dreadfuls. This is also where we get to see a contrast between characters - Todd vs. Adolfo. Coincidentally, Adolfo had previously worked for Sweeney Todd and attempted to blackmail him, but was eventually murdered by Todd.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of