DECONSTRUCTING THE ARISTOTELIAN HEROIC ARCHETYPE: HUGH WHEELER AND STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S TRAGIC VISION IN SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
DECONSTRUCTING THE ARISTOTELIAN HEROIC ARCHETYPE: HUGH WHEELER AND STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S TRAGIC VISION IN SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

Summary/Abstract: Since its first debut on Broadway in 1979, Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has attracted the attention of theatergoers and critics alike. The play’s success depended on its hilarious songs and music which overshadowed the shocking violent scenes and the cannibalism that constitute the main plot. Much has been written on the music and stage techniques that characterized the premiere of the play. The psychology of the title character, the motivations for his vicious acts, and his difference from traditional tragic heroes are not given enough space in the previous critical studies of the play. This research aims to read Wheeler and Sondheim’s drama as a notable example of modern revenge tragedy in which the title character is presented as both a victim and a criminal, who seeks to avenge himself on society, blaming it for all his misfortunes. It focuses on the playwrights’ use of the alienation effect of Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theater to evoke the audience’s intellectual, rather than emotional, involvement.

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