ABSTRACT
Originating from a musical play on Broadway, the story of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is then created into a book version by Hugh Wheeler. It tells about Sweeney Todd, a man who wants to avenge those who have separated him from his family. Yet, this study focuses on his old neighbor, Mrs. Lovett who hides the identity of Todd’s wife, Lucy for her own benefit. It is going to analyze why she does that way.
This study tries to find the motive of Mrs. Lovett, therefore there are two problems formulated in this study. The first is to find out the characteristics of Mrs. Lovett in the play. The second is to identify the motive of Mrs. Lovett to hide Lucy’s identity revealed through Mrs. Lovett’s characteristics. This study uses a library research in order to answer the two problems. Since this study discusses the motive, then the psychological approach is applied here.
The result of the analysis shows that from the first page until almost the end of the play, Mrs. Lovett is described as a dangerous woman for the people around her. It can be described that she is manipulative, heartless and greedy. By using the Basic Needs theory, it can be explained that only her two characteristics that can be identified to find out her motive. First, is manipulative and the second is heartless. In the manipulative characteristic, Mrs. Lovett is described as a woman who always deceives people she thinks can speed up her plan. In this case, Sweeney Todd, a man whom she is very fond of, becomes the most frequently deceived character even until the end of the story. Furthermore, her heartless characteristic also describes her behavior to hide Lucy’s identity because she keeps Lucy away from Todd. She hides Lucy’s identity from Todd because she wants to win Todd’s heart and replaces Lucy’s position, or in the other words, it is because of love. Her need of love and belongingness which is in the third stage of the basic needs is not fulfilled since the death of her husband. Additionally, in her efforts to give her deep love to Todd, she even does not get the same love as she wants.
