Set in Dickensian London, Sweeney Todd is the tale of a man whose lovely wife had the misfortune to catch the eye of a lecherous judge. To facilitate his evil designs, the judge has Sweeney transported to Australia, where he spends the next 15 years at hard labor. But the wronged fellow eventually escapes and returns to London, bereft of his wife, his daughter, and his reason for living. Not surprisingly, Todd vows revenge, and is about to get it just as Act I concludes. Facing lethal retribution from the enraged barber, the judge narrowly escapes, whereupon Todd slits someone else's throat instead, and then quite a few others. Sweeney Todd "takes it out" on the innocent citizens of London, butchering his clients (who then are baked into meat pies and sold to unsuspecting folk).This is where drama and tragedy meet biology, history and human psychology. It can be argued that every human conflict finds its origin in vengeful behavior disguised as justice and acted against not the original wrong-doer, but the nearest, softest target.But this "god" is universal, and Todd is hardly alone in behaving this way. For as long as there have been human beings on earth — stretching back to our animal inheritance — we have been bedeviled by a peculiar need, as insistent as it has been tragic: Making others suffer for the pain we feel, often choosing as our victim someone who wasn't even the original perpetrator. Biologists call it "displaced" or "redirected" aggression. It operates through the transfer of pain, sometimes physical, sometimes psychological. And it has been going on for a very long time.
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Listening to: The Clientele - Isn't Life Strange?
via FoxyTunes
