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  • Essay / The Theme of Revenge and Its Portrayal in Sweeney Todd

    Revenge is a common driving force in many novels, films, and in this case, musicals. The ideology of Sweeney Todd is quite simple; Sweeney wants revenge on the judge who sent him to unjust incarceration while the judge took his daughter to the neighborhood. Of course, there must be a twist in the story. As we find out, Todd is crazy and kills a lot of people by cutting their throats after shaving his face. He then gives the bodies to the meat pie seller who lives below him, named Mrs. Lovett. To summarize the ending, Sweeney Todd wants to kill the judge, and ends up doing it. However, he kills a homeless witch who wandered into the store because the judge was about to go up the stairs. Then almost kills his daughter after killing the judge but doesn't recognize her. Then he goes down to dispose of the body when he realizes that the old witch he had killed was his former wife! Sweeney commits suicide because he can't bear to live knowing he killed his wife, and it's discovered he was a killer. The end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay However, there are a few musical numbers that I really liked. The first of these was “No Place like London”. The song starts very happy in major. Anthony Hope, the sailor, enters the stage and begins to sing; this turns out to be Hope's theme song of sorts. He is naive and young, always looking on the bright side of things, it is probably no coincidence that his last name is Hope. However, Todd interrupts and the melody becomes somewhat dark, as we find out Todd is a very dark person and sees all the evil in the world. They exchange words about Hope saving Todd while he was stuck on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Then suddenly the old witch comes out and asks for change, this becomes very repetitive during the play. As Hope gives him money, she starts joking about sex and Todd is disgusting and yells at her to go away. They exchange a few more words about meeting up later, then they leave. The last song I was interested in was “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” at the end of the musical. It was extremely dark and it was a summary of the entire musical. Although the same variation of the song was played at the beginning of the musical, this concluded the musical, which I understood better. The way this issue begins is shortly after Todd's suicide. The entire cast comes out and sings this big ballad, making it very majestic, but also scary. There is a lot of dissonance that gives you chills. Although the melody was strange and disturbing, I was drawn to it because I found it relatively catchy. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, the story of Sweeney Todd was extremely interesting and had an unreal dynamic. Even though Sweeney was a murderer and crazy, I felt like I was rooting for him the whole time and I was a little upset that he died. A different dynamic I realized was that of the two last names of Anthony Hope and Mrs. Lovett. The sailor always looked on the bright side of things and never doubted that Sweeney would do something wrong, and above all he listened to everything he told him. He was a symbol of hope for Todd about his daughter's return and the old life he led. Also, Mrs. Lovett's name sounds a lot like "love." She falls in love with Sweeney..