{"id":9004,"date":"2014-03-03T15:39:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T20:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=9004"},"modified":"2014-03-03T17:28:12","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T22:28:12","slug":"if-only-angels-would-prevail-the-ballad-of-sweeney-todd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/03\/if-only-angels-would-prevail-the-ballad-of-sweeney-todd.html","title":{"rendered":"If Only Angels Would Prevail: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Pope Francis bookclub<\/a><\/em> post<\/a> will run on Wednesday, since the chapter seemed apropos for the beginning of Lent.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a time when Hollywood is producing gritty remakes of well nigh everything, it might be appropriate to look back at one of my favorite works on how to live in an irrevocable corrupt world. \u00a0Today, at Ethika Politika<\/em>, I\u2019m discussing the tragic love that the Demon Barber of Fleet Street still bears the Moral Law in\u00a0Sweeney Todd<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bond\u2019s Sweeney, when confronted by bloodshed, has a tendency to sound like an office worker, supremely distanced from his work, discussing his killings in the language of necessity. When contemplating Johanna-in-disguise\u2019s imminent death, he uses only the passive voice, saying, \u201cHere\u2019s another must complete the score \u2026 He forces me to hurry \u2026 he must die.\u201d This Sweeney avoids statements that would acknowledge his own agency like \u201cI will\u201d or \u201cI choose.\u201d Instead of the Demon Barber promised in the title, Bond\u2019s Todd more closely resembles the little Eichmanns described by Hannah Arendt. There is a banality to his evil that lets him see it as separate from himself and his identity.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Bond\u2019s Sweeney believes that he can shuck off his Sweeney persona as easily as he put it on. After the murder of the Judge, Todd sheathes his razors and declares, \u201cNow that my vengeance is assuaged I long to see Johanna.\u201d This line could never be delivered by Sondheim\u2019s Sweeney. Unlike Bond\u2019s murderer, Sondheim\u2019s Sweeney understands that the evil he embraces will warp him and prevent him ever seeing his daughter again. In \u201cEpiphany,\u201d the song in which Sweeney decides he will kill at will, rather than only destroying the Beadle and the Judge, he declares, \u201cWe all deserve to die.\/And I\u2019ll never see Johanna\/No I\u2019ll never hug my girl to me\u2014finished!\u201d Although most of the song is performed in a desperate rasp, in these sections, the music drops into a resonant register and is sung more sweetly, symbolizing the humanity Sweeney is putting aside. His decision to kill sunders him from his morally pure daughter.<\/p>\n

Read on\u2026<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In order to adapt the essay for the web (it\u2019s based on a paper I wrote in a college Sondheim seminar), I ended up getting rid of a digression in the footnotes, so let\u2019s just say it\u2019s exclusive content for you blog readers. \u00a0After saying that \u201cThe mass of people at the pie shop richly deserve the Greek epithet of \u2018mere bellies.'\u201d I was pleased to be able to cite the source in which I learned that phrase: Lewis Hyde\u2019s\u00a0Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I loved Hyde\u2019s book, was pleased to get to cite it, and couldn\u2019t resist adding some quotes in my footnote. \u00a0So, here they are for you:<\/p>\n

[1]\u201cAt the beginning of Hesiod\u2019s Theogony<\/em>, the Muses come down from Mount Helicon and speak to the poet\u2026 and address [him] with scorn\u2014\u2018Shepherds living in the fields, base objects of reproach, mere bellies!\u2019\u2014and go on to point out how different are those who live on the high mountain: \u2018We know how to say many falsehoods that look like genuine things, but we can also\u2026 proclaim true things.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Muses believe human beings are unlikely to tell the truth because they are \u2018mere bellies,\u2019 ridden by their appetite.\u201d\u00a0 (excerpted from Trickster Makes this World: Mischief, Myth, and Art<\/em> by Lewis Hyde, p. 66).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[2] \u201cTrickster lies because he has a belly, the stories say; expect truth only from those whose belly is full or those who have escaped the belly altogether.\u201d (Ibid, p. 77).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turns out that the \u201cmere bellies\u201d epithet has some interesting connections to Richard Beck\u2019s\u00a0The Slavery of Death<\/em><\/a> (which would make for excellent Lenten reading, if you\u2019re interested), but I\u2019ll hold off on that point for its own post.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

DarwinCatholic is praying a novena for Ordering Lives Wisely by St. Thomas Aquinas, that will end on Ash Wednesday. \u00a0If you\u2019d like to join her and me, you can\u00a0find the prayers here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pope Francis bookclub post will run on Wednesday, since the chapter seemed apropos for the beginning of Lent. In a time when Hollywood is producing gritty remakes of well nigh everything, it might be appropriate to look back at one of my favorite works on how to live in an irrevocable corrupt world. \u00a0Today, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":9006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,8],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-9004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morality-in-practice","category-reviewsrecommendations","tag-at-the-theatre"],"yoast_head":"\nIf Only Angels Would Prevail: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Pope Francis bookclub post will run on Wednesday, since the chapter seemed apropos for the beginning of Lent. 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