Educating Rita Literature Coursework Essay 20th Century Drama
"Educating Rita" - Literature Coursework Essay - 20th Century Drama
Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell. It tells the story of Frank and Rita. The play is a two-hander; there are only two characters involved in the whole duration of the play. Although there are many other people that are important in the play, Educating Rita primarily focuses on Frank, a dissolute university professor and Rita, a dissatisfied hairdresser who wants an education. Although the title of the play, Educating Rita, seems self-explanatory, it has many different ideas and meanings behind it. During the course of the play, we learn more about the two characters and we see how their relationship develops.
In Rita, we see a person who is driven by a sense of incompleteness. She struggles for an education that will take her far and beyond the class and culture in which she had been born. She commits herself totally to the Open University course, and is well aware of what she is leaving behind and what must change. In the Open University course, she meets Frank, her tutor. Unwillingly he agrees to tutor her, but outwardly Frank is not a promising answer to her needs. He appears self-destructive and cynical. From here on after, we see the relationship between Frank and Rita start to grow.
The playwright shows the changes in Rita's character during the course of the play through the following:
Rita comes from one of the lower classes in the Liverpool society. She talks in a heavily accented Liverpudlian voice. She uses very basic language and continuously uses colloquial speech. An example of this could be: "D' y' get a lot like me?" (Act one, scene one). During one point in the play, Rita changes her voice totally. She abandons her accent and adopts more formal speech. Frank notices this and tells her that it is unnecessary to abandon her uniqueness to be a "proper student". One can see an example of this in act two, scene two:
Rita: "I know, Frank. I'm terribly sorry. It was unavoidable."
Frank: "Was it really? What's wrong with your voice?"
Rita: "Nothing is wrong with it, Frank. I have merely decided to talk properly. As Trish says, there is not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice."
Here we can see that Rita has been influenced by her flatmate, Trish, and she is actually taking her friend's advice. This shows that she is not thinking for herself. There are future examples of this where Trish is mentioned in the play, and she influences Rita in making decisions. Towards the closure of the play however, we see that Rita has started to use speech that is more articulate and is less colloquial. For example, in act two, scene seven she says: "...is this what you call a scholarly neckline?" From the quote, we can see that ...
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Here we can see that Rita has been influenced by her flatmate, Trish, and she is actually taking her friend's advice. This shows that she is not thinking for herself. There are future examples of this where Trish is mentioned in the play, and she influences Rita in making decisions. Towards the closure of the play however, we see that Rita has started to use speech that is more articulate and is less colloquial. For example, in act two, scene seven she says: "...is this what you call a scholarly neckline?" From the quote, we can see that Rita has started talking to Frank as an equal. She has managed to control her style of speech. Later on we can see that she is able to combine a more educated, wider range of vocabulary with a naturalness of speech.
At first, Rita and Frank have some communication problems. We can see this in the following selection of text (act one, scene one):
Frank: "You are?"
Rita: "What am I?"
Frank: "Pardon?"
Rita: "What?"
Frank: "Now you are?"
Rita: "I'm a what?"
From this we can clearly see that Frank and Rita are incapable of communicating with each other at this point in the play. Frank does not understand Rita, and Rita does not understand Frank. Even in this simple interchange their communication breaks down, and they do not understand each other. However, later in the play, we can see that Rita is able to talk with Frank in an "educated" manner. We can see an example of this in act two, scene four. From the below quote, we can see that Frank and Rita share common interests. Both of them are talking about something they have in common, even though it's just a book, it shows that both of them can talk about the same thing which concludes that they have a lot on common.
Frank: "... I got round to reading it you know, Rubyfruit Jungle. It's excellent."
Rita: "... Of its type it's quite interesting. But it's hardly excellence."
Throughout the duration of the play, we see Rita and Frank's characters develop a mutual attraction towards each other. We see that they become very close and intimate at times. You can see that their relationship is developing through several points: They can joke with each other in a natural way that both they and the audience can relate to. An example can be found in act one, scene five.
Rita: "... I'm not gonna try an' rape y' in the middle of The Seagull."
Frank: "What an awful pity. You could have made theatre exciting for me again."
The actions and movements on stage. In one particular scene in the play, we see that Frank and Rita are sharing food and drink with each other. Although this itself doesn't mean very much, it shows us their feelings for each other. A model of this could be in act one, scene six. "He throws her the apple from his desk which she catches" and "Rita offers him the can of soft drink." Later in the play, however, in act two, scene six, Rita and Frank start arguing. They still make up to each other in act two, scene seven. This shows us that their relationship with each other is still holding strong and they still want to be friends, even though one has upset the other. This example demonstrates how close the two characters have become throughout the length of the play.
During the play, we can see Rita demonstrates several of her different moods. Most of the time, she is pleased and enthusiastic about her course at the Open University. We can see this through the actions she makes on the stage. For example: "Rita flounces into the room and goes to the desk." (Act one, scene three) Although we cannot see this action in the play, the audience can see this performed on stage. Another example could be in act one, scene six, "Rita bursts through the door out of breath."
Once during the play, Rita's name changes. At the beginning, her name was based on the author of the novel Rubyfruit Jungle (Rita Mae Brown), and then later on in the play she changes her name back to her original name (Susan White). The reason she did this is because she was "in awe" of the book Rubyfruit Jungle and she shows this through changing her name to that of the author's. The following extract can be found in act one, scene one. Rita: "That's 'S' for Susan. It's just me real name. I've changed it to Rita, though. I'm not Susan anymore. I've called meself Rita - y'know, after Rita Mae Brown." Later on in the play, Frank brings this matter up and he criticises her on what she said as quoted above.
Frank: "... Oh Rita, Rita..."
Rita: "Rita? Rita? Nobody calls me Rita but you. I dropped that pretentious crap as soon as I saw it for what it was. You stupid... Nobody calls me Rita."
Frank: "What is it now then? Virginia?"
Rita exits
Frank: "Or Charlotte? Or Jane? Or Emily?"
Frank makes a point that now Rita is educated she doesn't want to "associate" with bad literature such as Rubyfruit Jungle and so, he's mockingly suggests that her name should be changed to Virginia (Woolf), Charlotte (Brontë), Jane (Austen) or Emily (Brontë). The point that Frank is trying to stress out here is that now Rita is educated, she is able to distinguish good literature from bad literature. Here you can see that Frank is very distressed because he wants the old Rita back. In act two, scene six he makes a big point of this when he compares himself to Mary Shelly, the author of Frankenstein. Frank: "... I think that like you I shall change my name; from now on I shall insist upon being know as Mary, Mary Shelly..." In the quote, Frank compares himself to Victor Frankenstein (the main character in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein), a scientist who dabbles in science and creates a monster which he cannot control. The implication is that Frank has created the Rita who stands before him and over whom he has now lost influence.
Later on in that scene, Rita makes another statement about Frank: Rita: "... What's up, Frank, don't y' like me now that the little girl's grown up, now that y' can no longer bounce me on daddy's knee an' watch me stare back in wide-eyed wonder at everything he has to say? I'm educated..." You can see that Rita is very agitated and annoyed at Frank. She is annoyed because she thinks that Frank doesn't want her to change. Rita imagines that Frank wants to have the old Rita back, whereas she has changed and she doesn't want to go back to her old life.
This whole play is based on the point that Rita wanted an education. She has barely had a basic schooling, never passed an exam in her life but she still has the energy to learn.
Frank: "What do you want to know?"
Rita: "Everything."
The above quote (act one, scene one), shows us that Rita is willing to learn and achieve an education she has always wanted. She's giving up her own money and time to do this course. Later in the play, Rita's focus shifts from what she calls "getting an education" to passing her exam. We can see an example of this in act two, scene four where Rita says: "If it was in an exam what sort of mark would it get?"
After passing her exam, Frank asks Rita:
Frank: "What are you going to do?"
Rita: "I dunno. I might go to France. I might go to me mother's. I might even have a baby. I dunno. I'll make a decision, I'll choose. I dunno."
Rita has a lot of freedom now that she's completed her course. Looking at the above quote, I think we now see her as a much more stronger character. At the beginning, she was talking a lot about Denny and her mum, but now she is on her own Rita has not got a freedom which she accomplished herself. She is now capable of making her own decisions in life and this is all because of the education she has pursued for herself.
Referring back to the original task question: "How does the playwright show the changes in Rita's character during the course of the play?"
William Russell uses many different methods to show that Rita's character changes during the course of the play. They can be shown through Rita's language and speech, her communication with Frank, her relationship with Frank, her mood and emotions, her name, her attitudes towards her work and the movements on the stage. Throughout the play, Rita has gone from one extreme to another and finally reached an equilibrium.
Xue Chen 10Y Friday 10th November 2000