The Sweeney Todd Project: Selected Illustrations

Sweeney Todd lectures young Tobias on the importance of keeping his mouth shut. Todd does not want any suspicion surrounding his barber shop, and threatens Tobias that he will slit his throat if he makes any conclusions about what Sweeny's up to.

Tobias is frightened by Todd's appearance while sitting in the Todd's chair. Todd continues to yell at Tobias, as he appears to be ready to attack Tobias. This shows Todd's willingness to attack anyone, even a child.

Outside of Todd's Barber shop, Hector the dog attacks Todd. Nobody seems to be in a panic as Hector knocks Todd to the ground.

Sweeney Todd takes another victim. Starting out giving the man a shave, Todd then takes his razor then slices the mans throat. As you can see from the man's outfit, he seems to be of a higher class than Todd. The man's title is a Usurer, which is someone who lends money at an unreasonably high rate of interest.

A group of officials discovered a secret grave in a vault underneath St. Dunstan's Church. These are the remains of victims of Sweeney Todd, and by the looks of it, Todd is what would be considered a serial killer. This image is a chilling reminder of the monster that is Sweeney Todd.

This image depicts Sweeney Todd lunging, with his razor in hand, towards Sir Richard Blunt in an attempt to murder him. One person has grabbed Todd by his hair. There is a massive crowd at Todd’s trial, and some look frightened or angry, while the rest of them are inconsequential but add to the sheer number of attendees. Canes rise from the mass of people, perhaps signalling that they would come to the aid of Blunt if needed. Sir Richard Blunt himself is clearly taken by surprise as he is in the middle of speaking, with one hand raised and his hat in the other. A man at the bottom of the…

Taking place at London’s Newgate Prison, a prison that is infamous for its executions, which took place in front of the prison, in view of a massive crowd(1). Sweeney Todd is shown wielding a hammer that he is attempting to commit suicide with. Three additional prisoners (or guards?) are shown as well. Two are clearly attempting to stop Todd from killing himself. One of them is holding a lantern in a one hand, lighting the dark cell and providing all of the light present in the image. He is reaching up with his other hand towards Todd’s wrist to stop him from swinging the hammer. The other…

In a forest, Todd is seen wielding a large branch while standing over the body of Lupin. Like many of the images, this one depicts the moment before the violence takes place. Lupin does not appear to be beaten or bloodied in any way yet. Lupin is lying on the ground with his hat next to him, indicating there was indeed a struggle, but not that it was overly violent.

Todd is showing taking a child from a mother and holding it hostage with a gun. The child is in tears and reaching towards the mother. The mother is clearly shocked and at a loss for what to do. They were taken by surprise as indicated by the laundry hanging in the background, in addition to the basket of laundry that has either already been dried or was also going to be hung up. The fear portrayed in this image from the mother and child, coupled with the menacing glare from Todd capture how far Todd is willing to go to achieve his ends.

Todd lies dead on the ground while two men stand over him. One is grasping Todd’s hand and looking back to a man on a horse. However, he has kept his gun pointing towards Todd in a manner that suggest he is still uneasy about Todd. The other man is looking at Todd, also keeping his pistol drawn. Two other men on horses have much more relaxed postures. One is simply pointing ahead as if he is telling the two men standing over Todd what they should do with him. The other is looking behind the group, and has a rather concerned look on his face, as if he is as uncomfortable with the situation…