Any Pure Motives in Sweeney Todd?

My friend and I were discussing this the other day and I was just wondering what you guys thought.

Does anyone in Sweeney Todd have pure motives?

Here's what I think: Anthony is the only one. He is in love with Joanna (however quickly it might have happened) and he wants to take her away from her "captivity" and marry her. Joanna is a close second but I think she would marry anyone who could take her away from Judge Turpin.

thoughts?

---

Tazber's right. First, everyone has to agree on the terms and definition of "pure"... but is it not all debatable when examined from various perspectives?

---

Revenge is Justice. That's a semantical issue much like "fair" and "equal." Also, I want to agree with Tazber--everyone's motives are pure, with the exception of the Judge ( bc really its hard to justify lusting after your adoptive daughter), what is "impure" is the method they employ to act on these motivations..

I think that if Anthony's intentions are pure because, whatever it be based on, he is in love with her and just wants to be with her. If his intention was just to bang her, that'd be a different story...

I totally thought you meant musical motives

---

The Beggar Woman is pure, just driven mad by Judge Turpin's rape.

On a side note: With the whole Judge Turpin lusting after his adopted daughter, did anyone think of Woody Allen for the role?

---

****************SPOILERS*********************

The Beggar Woman and Toby are the only real innocents in the world of "Sweeney Todd"--and a lot of good it does them. The Beggar Woman, through her ravaged mind, has (I think), a vague memory of home and happiness, and she wants to get back to that world--ironically, she achieves her goal (she is reunited with her husband in their old home, with her daughter hidden nearby) at the cost of her life. Toby only wants to worship at Mrs. Lovett's feet, but his naivete about her (and about the world) destroys him.

Johanna may seem an image of purity and innocence, but she learns damn quick how to survive in this world (it's her fast thinking and trigger finger that saves her and Anthony from Fogg's Asylum, for instance). This is something that usually gets obscured in the bubbly-bimbo way most actresses play the role.

---

i agree that toby and beggar woman were the only one's with truly pure motives....oddly enough those 2 were clearly not all there in the mind as well....coincidence?

Oddly I have also discussed this show at length with a friend.

Basically we both though Mrs. Lovett was the only really evil one (everybody else to some degree did have excuses). She was the only one to jump wholeheartedly into something evil and monterous just so she good get her rocks off.

Yeah, I proberly over simplified what I meant (argh I am tired), but we could easily relate alot of the worse stuff back to her as well.

Maybe I talk about it more in length when I am less tired. Sorry

Oooh good point. Good and evil are so interwinably linked.

God, I love this show.