Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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

Todd’s razors are prominent motifs for The Perils of Obsession, symbolizing his overwhelming desire to attain revenge at all costs. The razors first appear when Todd arrives at the pie shop of Mrs. Lovett, who held on to them out of admiration for Todd when he was still Benjamin Barker. Todd approaches his razors with reverence, calling them his “friends” since he is excited by their potential for violence. He does this again the first time he encounters Judge Turpin near the end of Act I and again near the end of Act II, after he kills Turpin and urges his razors to rest. Todd’s reverence hints at his trust in the razors to satisfy him. Wielding them for the first time, he declares that his “right arm is complete again” (22), signifying that he defines himself by his drive for revenge.

Just as Todd uses the razors to exact his vengeance, the razors become the tools of his folly. He uses them to kill the beggar woman, later revealed to be his wife, Lucy. By turning the razor on her without learning her true identity, Todd commits himself to the blindness that his obsession casts over him.