Compare the different ways in which Willy Russell creates humour in the first and final scenes of "Educating Rita" and comment on how what you found reflects the change in the characters and their relationship.

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Ellen Silvey 10G                                                21st November 2003

“EDUCATING RITA POST-1914 DRAMA- YEAR 10

Compare the different ways in which Willy Russell creates humour in the first and final scenes of “Educating Rita” and comment on how what you found reflects the change in the characters and their relationship.  

There are many different types of humour in Educating Rita, such as slapstick humour, the humour of the use of language and visual humour. One example of this is that Willy Russell uses stage directions to portray humour. The focus of the humour in this play changes from the beginning to the end as it mirrors the power switch from Frank to Rita. We can see this because we laugh at Rita in a light hearted way, but the tone of the humour changes as the power shifts, and in the last scene we laugh at Frank in a more negative way. The humour mirrors the development of Frank and Rita because in Act 1, Scene 1 we laugh at the mistakes Rita makes as she tries to become educated. However, in Act 2, scene 7, we laugh ironically at Frank, as he leaves forever a broken man. Educating Rita is set in an office in a Liverpool University. The two main characters are Frank and Rita. Frank is an alcoholic, who teaches English literature. Rita is married, and a hairdresser. She is taking an Open University course in English Literature, and wants to learn everything and change her life.

In the first and last scenes of the play, Frank and Rita both have very dramatic entrances. In 1,1 Rita is unable to open the door to Frank’s office, as it has a stiff handle that she does not know about. After a lot of frustrated “Come Ins” in a raised voice from Frank, Rita bursts through the door and practically falls into the office. This is an example of visual humour, and nearly slapstick humour. However, in 2,7, Rita opens Frank’s office door to find him surrounded by tea chests, as he is packing up his office so that he can go to Australia. This is an example of visual humour. When Rita bursts through the door, it is very loud humour, and quite dramatic. There is no way that you could miss the hilarity of it. When Rita opens the door to find Frank surrounded by tea chests, it is bittersweet humour. Frank looks lost, and apart from the initial humour of the amusing picture of him surrounded by tea chests, there is sadness behind it. The entrances represent the power switch from Frank to Rita. When Rita cannot open the door, it shows the class barrier that she has to break through to follow her dream. When she manages to get through the door and bursts through it, it shows her eagerness to get started. The way that she was not used to the handle on Frank’s door shows the way that she was in new surroundings, which she is not yet comfortable in. When she confidently opens the door in the final scene, it shows that as she has become more confident and comfortable with her surroundings, Frank has continually become more lost. He is now the one who needs help, not Rita.  

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Ellen Silvey 10G

The humour caused by reference to alcohol in the play also represents the power switch. The stage direction in 1,1 reads “We should recognise the speech of a

Man who shifts a lot of booze” and the quote from Rita from 2,7 is “If you had threepence back for all these bottles, you could buy Australia!” When reading the stage directions, you have to remember that the audience watching the play would hear the slurred voice of Frank, and not just be told how it would sound. When the audience saw Frank in 2,7, ...

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