Educating Rita Essay
The play "Educating Rita" is somewhat unique in many ways one Is that is it set in the 1980's where a lot of revelation in the equality of women was taking place for example the equal rights act had just been passed and it was becoming more and more common for women to further their education and with the introduction of the pill and longer maternity leave this was becoming an easy thing to do, Willy Russell would have been trying to show the world how the modern woman can pass through education and mad his play relevant to modern day life. Another way it is unique is in that throughout the whole play there are only two characters and one setting, so Willy Russell must use dramatic devices to keep the audience entertained and interested. He does this in many different ways Frank and Rita are from very different social classes and therefore react differently to objects. The whole play is set in Franks study so this reveals a lot about his personality for example he hides a lot of whiskey bottles in the room, this instantly reveals frank has a problem with drink and it ashamed to show it. The room is messy and cluttered which gives you an incite to his life and reflects on his erratic behaviour. Also there is a picture which is used as a conversation starter between Rita and Frank, Willy Russell also uses this to show the audience the difference in class between them as Frank sees is as 'fine art' where as Rita refers to it as 'erotic'
The first time we hear frank speak in the play he is speaking on the phone. From this it shows that he seems slightly bored with the person on the other end (presumably his girlfriend/partner) and he also patronises her slightly "because, darling, I like my lamb done to the point of abuse and even I know that ratatouille cannot be burned..." he speaks in a posh voice and immediately implies he is upper class and knowledgeable about food and speaks in a very intellectual way. Willy Russell wishes that by doing this the audience can try and interpret his personality and social class before he even speaks to Rita. In that quote he is almost teasing her here, which shows he has a very dry sense of humour and is very dismissive of this woman. Willy Russell wants to make it clear that Frank going to the pub is a regular occasion so he uses this phone call to show the audience straight away "I shall need to go to the pub afterwards"; this quote shows that Frank sometimes relies on the pub. Similarly he has the same negative perception towards the Open University "I shall need to wash away the memory of some silly woman's attempts to get into the minds of Henry James", here he implies that only uneducated lower class people would go and that he didn't enjoy teaching it, Willy Russell said this as then it would be a large contrast at the end of the play and the whole audience know how much Rita's attitude has changed Franks views on working class culture. However, this particular quotation could be perceived as ironic as it says how Frank would rather go to the pub rather than have dinner with his partner which means he would rather endure lower class culture than middle class culture even though he previously expressed negative views on it which could imply that Frank is bored and unhappy with life.
The play "Educating Rita" is somewhat unique in many ways one Is that is it set in the 1980's where a lot of revelation in the equality of women was taking place for example the equal rights act had just been passed and it was becoming more and more common for women to further their education and with the introduction of the pill and longer maternity leave this was becoming an easy thing to do, Willy Russell would have been trying to show the world how the modern woman can pass through education and mad his play relevant to modern day life. Another way it is unique is in that throughout the whole play there are only two characters and one setting, so Willy Russell must use dramatic devices to keep the audience entertained and interested. He does this in many different ways Frank and Rita are from very different social classes and therefore react differently to objects. The whole play is set in Franks study so this reveals a lot about his personality for example he hides a lot of whiskey bottles in the room, this instantly reveals frank has a problem with drink and it ashamed to show it. The room is messy and cluttered which gives you an incite to his life and reflects on his erratic behaviour. Also there is a picture which is used as a conversation starter between Rita and Frank, Willy Russell also uses this to show the audience the difference in class between them as Frank sees is as 'fine art' where as Rita refers to it as 'erotic'
The first time we hear frank speak in the play he is speaking on the phone. From this it shows that he seems slightly bored with the person on the other end (presumably his girlfriend/partner) and he also patronises her slightly "because, darling, I like my lamb done to the point of abuse and even I know that ratatouille cannot be burned..." he speaks in a posh voice and immediately implies he is upper class and knowledgeable about food and speaks in a very intellectual way. Willy Russell wishes that by doing this the audience can try and interpret his personality and social class before he even speaks to Rita. In that quote he is almost teasing her here, which shows he has a very dry sense of humour and is very dismissive of this woman. Willy Russell wants to make it clear that Frank going to the pub is a regular occasion so he uses this phone call to show the audience straight away "I shall need to go to the pub afterwards"; this quote shows that Frank sometimes relies on the pub. Similarly he has the same negative perception towards the Open University "I shall need to wash away the memory of some silly woman's attempts to get into the minds of Henry James", here he implies that only uneducated lower class people would go and that he didn't enjoy teaching it, Willy Russell said this as then it would be a large contrast at the end of the play and the whole audience know how much Rita's attitude has changed Franks views on working class culture. However, this particular quotation could be perceived as ironic as it says how Frank would rather go to the pub rather than have dinner with his partner which means he would rather endure lower class culture than middle class culture even though he previously expressed negative views on it which could imply that Frank is bored and unhappy with life.
