Characters / The String of Pearls

The Main Characters

Sweeney Todd

• Bad Boss: He threatens to cut the throat of Tobias, later a disguised Johanna, if they get too nosy in his shop.
• Big Bad: The original and undisputed best in his franchise, a position that has only been usurped once.
• Serial Killer: Sweeney's preferred method of killing is by means of a trick barber's chair which deposits his victims down into the cellar below, in such a way that most people snap their necks when they land. If any survive the fall, Sweeney takes his razor to their throat.

Mrs. Lovett

• Evil Chef: Specifically with pies, but it counts.
• Poison Is Evil: How she meets her demise, and by the trickery of Sweeney Todd no less.

Johanna Oakley

• Disguised in Drag: She dresses up as a boy in an attempt to access Sweeney's shop. Incredibly, it works.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She is described to have dark hair and light skin.

Mark Ingestrie

• Distressed Dude: He was a prisoner beneath Mrs. Lovett's pie shop.
• Mistaken for Cheating: He stupidly mistook Johanna's meeting with Colonel Jeffery for hooking with another guy when he was thought lost at sea, which got him imprisoned in Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in the first place.

Minor Characters

Tobias Ragg

• Escape from the Crazy Place: With the help of an asylum inmate, he manages to escape from Fogg Asylum.
• Wrongfully Committed: Poor Tobias gets placed in Fogg Asylum for trying to speak up about Sweeney Todd's true character.

Colonel Jeffery

• The Confidant: He informs Johanna to the last known whereabouts of her fiancé and of Sweeney Todd.

Sir Richard Blunt

• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a local magistrate, and doesn't doubt Jeffrey for a second when he says that Todd is suspicious—Blunt already knew of Todd because of an incident he was involved in where a woman accused him of having stolen her husband's shoes but nothing at the time could definitely point to him having done any wrong. He masterminds a sting operation which successfully catches Todd trying to kill him, after which the demon barber is promptly arrested and hanged for his crimes.
• Spanner in the Works: It is his survival of the trap that allows him to call for Sweeney's arrest.

Mr. Oakley

• Doting Parent: Mr. Oakley loves his only child to the point he couldn't say no to his daughter's love for Mark.
• Papa Wolf: He comes to the defense of his daughter against marrying Lupin with some help.

Mrs. Oakley

• For Your Own Good: She believed arranging her daughter's marriage to Lupin is a fair exchange to gain salvation for her soul. Johanna doesn't buy it one bit.

Reverend Lupin

• The Alcoholic: He is very drunk, more so during his visit to the Oakley house.
• Dirty Old Monk: Debatable.