Sweeney Todd Marxist Objective When examining Sweeney Todd, there are several ways in which Judge Turpin's power goes to his head from the beginning of the book. Starting with the journey of Sweeney Todd, we are told the story of a young barber, falsely imprisoned for life by a man named Judge Turpin in hopes of kidnapping Todd's wife. Given that he is a highly esteemed judge, it is not surprising that the power eventually gets to the judge's head, forcing him to use his power for his own selfish desires. Judge Turpin represents the corrupt upper class elite oppressing the lower class through the freedom to establish and sustain an unchallengeable sense of power. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay From the first scene we are shown, the oppression that Judge Turpin imposes on the lower classes is undeniable. Before we are even introduced to the judge, we meet Sweeney Todd, who is on his way back to England after spending fifteen years in prison. While speaking to his partner Anthony, Todd states: “There were two men, one a burglar and the other a judge, who wanted my wife. I was falsely accused of robbery and was arrested by the janitor. I was brought before the same judge and sentenced to life imprisonment.” From this quote it is clear that the judge takes advantage of the power he has by using his reputation and his friends within the law to bend circumstances to his will. Having secured Todd's fate to a life in prison on a continent separate from England, Turpin is then able to use his power to manipulate Todd's confused and, now alone, wife. The circumstance involving Todd and his wife is just one of many examples of the way Judge Turpin represents the oppression imposed on the lower classes by the upper class elite. Moving forward in the story, we are shown a case between the janitor and the judge shortly after Judge Turpin sentenced a child from a low-income family to death. As he leaves the courthouse the messenger congratulates the judge on his sentence, "Exactly the sentence we wanted" to which the judge replies, "Was he guilty?" From this part of the conversation alone it is clear that the judge abuses his power, using it to carry out sentences that accord with his friends' wishes instead of deciphering whether the defendant is guilty or not. Continuing the previous conversation between the janitor and the judge, the immense abuse of power to uphold a sense of incontestable decisions can be seen when the janitor responds to the judge's question by saying, "Well, if he didn't do it, he certainly did something". to justify a hanging. Bearing in mind that the person in question was a child, not even a teenager, it is almost impossible to think of anything the child could have done to justify a hanging. But since the child appeared before the judge in tattered clothes, covered in dirt and in any case indisputably of lower class, the judge sided with the janitor, even though there was no clear evidence to convict the boy. Turpin not only uses his immense sense of power to manipulate the court, but this behavior also spills over into his personal life. After Todd is convicted, his grief-stricken wife becomes involved in a series of events that lead to Judge Turpin gaining custody of Todd's daughter, Johanna. Once Todd returns, we see Johanna as a young adult, confined to the judge's mansion. Ironically he meets and plans to run away with the sailor who helped Todd on his voyage home. This is in response to the.