Sondheim Character Analysis

Sondheim is known for including moral ambiguity in his shows. There were several characters the showed good and bad moral characteristics. The first character that showed good and bad morals characteristics is Benjamin Barker a once honest man, loving husband, and father, who spend the last 15 years of his life in prison. Now escaped prison and wants to start all over now going by Sweeney Todd, returning to his old job as a barber, only to deliver new business to acquire Judge Turpin as a client, in order to get his revenge on the judge for what he did to him and his family.

Second character that shows good and bad moral characteristics is Mrs. Lovett. When Mrs. Lovett suspects Sweeney Todd is Benjamin Barker, she tells him the story of what happened to his wife That she poisoned herself, but fails to tell the whole truth when she doesn’t mention that the poison did not kill his wife, leading

Judge Turpin tries to be a good father to Johanna by keeping her safe from all the evil in the world, but in the process he keeps her locked away from the rest of the world, threatens to kill a harmless young man who likes Johanna, and as a last resort he decides the best way to keep her safe is to marry her. Judge Turpin abuses his power as the judge and send Benjamin Barker to prison for life in Australia for a crime he did not commit and in his twisted mind he was getting a criminal out over his town.

Sweeney Todd has been called a "morality play". The inferred moral of the story is to treat others the way you want to be treated, not to hold a grudge against people, and not to become obsessed with something. We are warned to treat others with respect, not hold grudges, and not become obsessive or you will become like Sweeney Todd. An antisocial person who only has one friend, a person that kills who was mean to him, and can end up dead because you killed someone you should have not