I absolutely love this piece, Tara. I've always loved Sweeney Todd and felt incredibly unsettled by its darkness. Your insights into what Sweeney misses and how the lens through which he views the world is warped and incomplete really helped clarify some of the themes for me. (I also shared your piece with my 14yo son who is currently very into Sweeney Todd and it sparked a great discussion. He loved reading your thoughts.)
Sweeney despairs of himself, but he believes in sin and in innocence and wants to preserve the latter from the former. He condemns himself, committing to not see Johanna because he is steeping himself in blood, and he has become a moral threat to her while the Judge is a physical threat.
Lovett believes she can do evil without consequence and has little hesitation about bringing Toby (whom she clearly loves) into the evil she does. She does not believe there is any price to pay for her sins or any joy they bar her from.
For Sweeney to convert to hope, he would need to believe there is a possibility of repenting of his blood and being washed clean (he's also have to work to desire it) but he already knows it is a stain and a sin, he just believes it is an immutable mark.
For Lovett to hope, she would have to descend into sorrow first, and call her sin sin before she could desire salvation.
“The worst worlds are the ones we make from blindness, from selfishness, from feeding and fattening our darkest impulses in the certainty that everyone else is doing the same.”
I am constantly amazed at the way in which unhealed wounds can quickly consume people. That one’s time, attention and devotion can become dedicated not to remedying their pain, but rather to spreading it. That moments of misery can convince one that misery is deserved, or inevitable. Sweeney seems to be a primary example.
Sweeney Todd was by far his best work for precisely the reasons you’re saying it didn’t resonate with you the first time around. City on Fire and Epiphany are two of the best songs from the musical. It is supposed to be dark, aggressive, and cynical. It’s a sad tale, like you’ve correctly noted, about what happens when you ignore the reality of those around you. This brooding complexity is precisely what makes it so beautiful. His revenge quest is relatable, yet he commits such horrible acts, rendering us morally conflicted. These feelings of uneasiness are the point. It’s high art.
Absolutely yes. Sondheim is the great modern master of anagnorisis: all his best shows hinge on it, and the dividing line, as you say, is based on what is revealed. Frederik basically spells it out for us in his “When my eyes are open” monologue in ALNM that leads into Desirée singing “Send in the Clowns,” but then the drama pulls one over on us and the final revelation is one of grace and second chances.
I absolutely love this piece, Tara. I've always loved Sweeney Todd and felt incredibly unsettled by its darkness. Your insights into what Sweeney misses and how the lens through which he views the world is warped and incomplete really helped clarify some of the themes for me. (I also shared your piece with my 14yo son who is currently very into Sweeney Todd and it sparked a great discussion. He loved reading your thoughts.)
I love Sweeney and I think it draws a stark moral contrast between the two kinds of depair embodied by Sweeney and Lovett: https://www.ethikapolitika.org/2014/03/03/angels-prevail-moral-tragedy-sweeney-todd/
Sweeney despairs of himself, but he believes in sin and in innocence and wants to preserve the latter from the former. He condemns himself, committing to not see Johanna because he is steeping himself in blood, and he has become a moral threat to her while the Judge is a physical threat.
Lovett believes she can do evil without consequence and has little hesitation about bringing Toby (whom she clearly loves) into the evil she does. She does not believe there is any price to pay for her sins or any joy they bar her from.
For Sweeney to convert to hope, he would need to believe there is a possibility of repenting of his blood and being washed clean (he's also have to work to desire it) but he already knows it is a stain and a sin, he just believes it is an immutable mark.
For Lovett to hope, she would have to descend into sorrow first, and call her sin sin before she could desire salvation.
“The worst worlds are the ones we make from blindness, from selfishness, from feeding and fattening our darkest impulses in the certainty that everyone else is doing the same.”
I am constantly amazed at the way in which unhealed wounds can quickly consume people. That one’s time, attention and devotion can become dedicated not to remedying their pain, but rather to spreading it. That moments of misery can convince one that misery is deserved, or inevitable. Sweeney seems to be a primary example.
Sweeney Todd was by far his best work for precisely the reasons you’re saying it didn’t resonate with you the first time around. City on Fire and Epiphany are two of the best songs from the musical. It is supposed to be dark, aggressive, and cynical. It’s a sad tale, like you’ve correctly noted, about what happens when you ignore the reality of those around you. This brooding complexity is precisely what makes it so beautiful. His revenge quest is relatable, yet he commits such horrible acts, rendering us morally conflicted. These feelings of uneasiness are the point. It’s high art.
Absolutely yes. Sondheim is the great modern master of anagnorisis: all his best shows hinge on it, and the dividing line, as you say, is based on what is revealed. Frederik basically spells it out for us in his “When my eyes are open” monologue in ALNM that leads into Desirée singing “Send in the Clowns,” but then the drama pulls one over on us and the final revelation is one of grace and second chances.