Characters of Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd originated in the Penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls. Many adaptations have been produced, including a musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and multiple films, most recently an adaptation of the musical directed by Tim Burton. The following is a list of characters from Sweeney Todd.

Main characters

Johnny Depp

Sweeney Todd

Main article: Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd is the title character, who first appeared as an antagonist. The original tale became a staple of Victorian melodrama and London urban legend. In the tale, Todd is a barber who was born as Benjamin Barker. Judge Turpin takes a liking to Barker's wife, Lucy, and has Barker imprisoned for 15 years so he can have Lucy for himself. Because of this, Lucy poisons herself. When Barker returns from prison, he finds his old neighbor, Mrs. Lovett. Together, the two plot for Todd to kill all his customers by slitting their throat, and for Lovett to make the human remains into meat pies so as to keep her business afloat. Todd also seeks revenge on Turpin, the man who also adopted his daughter, now sixteen. Sailor Anthony Hope, who brings Todd back to London, begins a romantic relationship with Johanna, the daughter. Ina climactic finale, Todd finally kills Turpin, only to discover that one of his victims, a beggar woman, was really his wife, and that Mrs. Lovett lied to him in telling him that Lucy was dead. Todd then kills Mrs. Lovett out of revenge as well. The tale has been retold many times since in various media, most notably in the Tony award–winning Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Todd is portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2007 film.

Sweeney Todd first appeared in a story titled The String of Pearls: A Romance. This penny dreadful was published in 18 weekly parts, in Edward Lloyd's The People's Periodical and Family Library, issues 7–24, published 21 November 1846 to 20 March 1847. Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although possible legendary prototypes exist.

For the film, Depp created his own image of Todd. Heavy purple and brown make-up was applied around his eyes to suggest fatigue and rage, as if "he's never slept". Burton said of the character Sweeney Todd, "We always saw him as a sad character, not a tragic villain or anything. He's basically a dead person when you meet him; the only thing that's keeping him going is the one single minded thing which is tragic. You don't see anything else around him." Depp said of the character, "He makes Sid Vicious look like the innocent paper boy. He's beyond dark. He's already dead. He's been dead for years." Depp also commented on the streak of white in Todd's hair, saying, "The idea was that he'd had this hideous trauma, from being sent away, locked away. That streak of white hair became the shock of that rage. It represented his rage over what had happened. It's certainly not the first time anyone's used it. But it's effective. It tells a story all by itself. My brother had a white spot growing up, and his son has this kind of shock of white in his hair."

Helena Bonham Carter

Mrs. Lovett

Main article: Mrs. Lovett

Mrs. Lovett is Sweeney Todd's neighbor and partner in crime, as well as his lover in some adaptations. She owns a restaurant called Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Emporium; Todd's apartment and barbershop are over the shop. In the play, Mrs. Lovett suggests that she use Adolfo Pirelli's body to make a meat pie; together the two decide that Todd will kill all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett will do the same for them. Helena Bonham Carter portrays Mrs. Lovett in the 2007 film. Carter was cast in October 2006, along with Sacha Baron Cohen (Adolfo Pirelli). Mrs. Lovett's first name varies depending on the adaptation, though the most common first names include Nellie, Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina and Claudetta.

While in most versions of the Sweeney Todd story Mrs. Lovett's past history is not stated, usually she is depicted as a childless widow, although in some depictions (but very rarely) Mr. Albert Lovett is shown. In Christopher Bond's 1973 play Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical adaptation, before she goes into business with Todd she is living in poverty in a filthy, vermin-infested flat, and laments her pies are the worst ones in London. While she feels no remorse about having people killed and serving them as pies, she is sometimes shown to have a softer side to those in need; for example, in the Bond play and Sondheim musical, she informally adopts the young orphan Tobias Ragg as her own and considers taking in Todd's daughter Johanna as well. In the original "penny dreadful" serial and George Dibdin Pitt's 1847 stage play The String of Pearls; or, The Fiend of Fleet Street, this softer side does not extend to her bakehouse assistants, whom she imprisons in the bakehouse and often slaves to death.

Mrs. Lovett was friends with Sweeney Todd before his imprisonment, when he was still Benjamin Barker. After Todd returned, she told the barber that his wife killed herself after being tormented and raped by Judge Turpin; this was a lie. When Todd found out that Lovett was hiding the fact that his wife Lucy really just became a still-alive beggar woman because she loved him, he killed Lovett by throwing her into the furnace. In some adaptations, however, Mrs. Lovett commits suicide or is arrested and escapes execution.

Alan Rickman

Judge Turpin

Main article: Judge Turpin

Judge Turpin is an antagonist who took a liking to Todd's wife and is eventually killed by Todd. In Bond's play and its subsequent adaptations by Stephen Sondheim and Tim Burton, Judge Turpin is first seen having Benjamin Barker arrested and exiled to Australia in order to have Barker's wife, Lucy, all to himself. Lucy is heartbroken, and becomes a recluse, never coming down from her house. Judge Turpin continuously pursues her, sending her flowers each day. He sends his henchman, Beadle Bamford, to summon her to his home, "[Blaming] himself for her dreadful plight." He then rapes Lucy, who tries to kill herself by drinking poison; she survives, but is driven insane and reduced to begging in the street. Turpin then takes Barker's infant daughter, Johanna, and raises her as his ward. He keeps her locked away from the world and spies on her through a peep-hole in her wall. When Johanna turns 16, Turpin offers her his hand in marriage. She refuses, to which he seems baffled. When he spots Anthony Hope looking at Johanna, he has him beaten and threatens to kill him if he ever returns.

On Beadle Bamford's advice, he goes for a shave at Sweeney Todd's barber shop, in order to impress Johanna—unaware that Todd is in fact Barker, returned from Australia and seeking revenge. Todd is about to cut Turpin's throat when he is interrupted by Anthony, who reveals Johanna's plan to escape. Turpin promptly leaves, renouncing Todd's business. Turpin returns home and finds Johanna smitten with Anthony. He sends her away to an asylum, planning to keep her there until she agrees to marry him. Turpin receives a letter claiming that Johanna has repented, unaware that it is part of a trap laid by Todd. Following the direction of the letter, goes to Todd's shop, where he is persuaded to have a shave. Turpin soon realizes Todd's true identity, and Todd slits his throat and drops him down a chute leading to his accomplice Mrs. Lovett's basement. Before bleeding to death, Turpin grabs at Mrs. Lovett's dress. Alan Rickman was cast as Judge Turpin for the 2007 film in December 2006.

Johanna Barker

Main article: Johanna (character)

Sacha Baron Cohen

Adolfo Pirelli

Main article: Adolfo Pirelli

Adolfo Pirelli, also known by his real names Davy Collins or Daniel O'Higgins, is a rival barber to Sweeney Todd, who Todd later kills with Pirelli attempts to blackmail him into giving him half his profit. Todd and Mrs. Lovett are in a square where Pirelli's assistant, Tobias Ragg, is advertising a concoction of his master's entitled Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, which is purported to stimulate the growth of hair. Todd takes one sniff of the mixture and denounces the elixir as "an arrant fraud" concocted of "piss and ink."

Enraged, Pirelli emerges from his tent to berate Todd, who offers to wager his own straight razors against five pounds of Pirelli's money. Whoever shaves a person the most quickly and dexterously will win, with Beadle Bamford acting as judge. Pirelli wastes time bragging about his vast talent and superiority over all other barbers. Todd, on the other hand, concentrates on doing the job and, after carefully preparing his razors and mixing the lather, shaves the customer in a matter of seconds to win the five pounds. Pirelli begrudgingly pays him five pounds.

The following day, Pirelli and Toby arrive at Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Emporium to visit Todd, whose establishment is atop Mrs. Lovett's. While Mrs. Lovett gives Toby a pie downstairs in her parlour, Pirelli ascends the stairs to Todd's room to confront him. Pirelli reveals that his real name is Daniel O'Higgins and he is in fact Irish. He reveals that he knows Todd's true identity as Benjamin Barker, having served as his apprentice as a small boy, and threatens to expose Todd to the Beadle unless he, Todd, pays him half of his profits. Todd, enraged, strangles him and throws his body in a trunk when Tobias enters the shop. While speaking to Tobias, Todd notices that Pirelli's hand is sticking out and feebly moving. After getting rid of the boy, Todd finishes Pirelli off by slashing his throat. Mrs. Lovett later takes his purse, where she finds three pounds, keeping the purse as her own. This scene was changed substantially for the 2007 film. In this interpretation, Pirelli is actually a Cockney thief named Davy Collins, rather than the Irish Daniel O'Higgins, and rather than strangling him, Todd bludgeons him into unconsciousness with an iron tea-pot before slitting his throat.

Sacha Baron Cohen portrays the character in the 2007 film adaptation of the musical, as opposed to Joaquin Romaguera, who played him in the musical. Cohen was cast in October 2006. Depp said of working with Baron Cohen, when asked what he was like in real life (meaning, not doing one of his trademark characters), "He's not what I expected. I didn't look at those characters and think, 'This will be the sweetest guy in the world'. He's incredibly nice. A real gentleman, kind of elegant. I was impressed with him. He's kind of today's equivalent of Peter Sellers."

Lucy Barker

Main article: Lucy Barker

Anthony Hope

Anthony Hope is a sailor who rescues Todd when he is nearly drowning prior to the beginning of the tale. He takes Todd back to London, and the two form a kind of friendship.

Tobias Ragg

Main article: Tobias Ragg

Minor characters

• Beadle Bamford
• Mr. Jonas Fogg is the owner of Fogg's Asylum. Mr. Fogg greatly abuses the children under his care so much that they fear him, as well as putting them in cramped and dirty conditions. After Judge Turpin banished Johanna to the Asylum, Anthony goes under the persona of a wigmaker to locate Johanna. Once he does, Anthony threatens to shoot Fogg and subsequently locks him in one of the rooms and lets the blonde girls tear him to death. In the 2007 film, Fogg was portrayed by Philip Philmar.
• Albert Lovett is Mrs. Lovett's deceased husband. He appears in very few of the adaptations; in the 2007 him he was mentioned only once while Mrs. Lovett is setting Sweeney Todd up with his barbing chair, where she notes that he loved to sit in the chair until his "leg gave out with gout".

References

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