Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, and rape.

Sweeney Todd is the protagonist of the play. He fits into the archetype of the antihero, opposing the social norms of the Victorian era by embodying its violence and reflecting it to those who perpetuate its exploitative systems. Todd drives the themes of The Revenge of the Working Class and The Perils of Obsession by committing himself to a single-minded pursuit of vengeance against the wealthy lawman who ruined his life, Judge Turpin. This vengeful obsession blinds him to the possibility of reclaiming his former life by reuniting with his wife, Lucy, and escaping from London with Johanna and Anthony.

Todd’s motivations rely on his backstory as the naive barber and family man Benjamin Barker. Barker was married to Lucy, a beautiful woman coveted by Turpin and his accomplice, the Beadle. Barker’s naivety prevented him from anticipating the judge’s plot to ship him to Australia and claim Lucy for himself. Barker escapes from his penal colony and changes his name to Sweeney Todd. 

The name change is more than a disguise; it symbolizes a deeper change of identity, from family man Barker to vengeful killer Todd.