Educating Rita by Willy Russell

The impressions that Rita makes on the audience in act 1 scene 1 are quite a few. Firstly the way she enters the room she finds it difficult to get into the room because the handle on the door is broke, she says “it’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door you wanna get that fixed” showing first of all she can talk to him easily even though they have literally just met and Russell shows it as if she is asking for frank to fix her. The struggle she has getting in to the room is reflected as her struggle to get into franks academic world. Another impression she gives is the way she talks to Frank. Her language is very colloquial and she talks to frank as a friend although they have just met, her language towards him shows that she is honest and is not intimidated by Frank and his knowledge of Literature. She says “ I was just testing y’ “ which shows that Willy Russell shows Rita already acts like a friend, making jokes with him. She also is shown speaking colloquial by saying things like “y’” and “bleedin’” and this shows she is uneducated but is obviously not putting on an act in front of frank so she being herself and honest with him which already shows a sense of trust in their relationship. Willy Russell also used language confusion between the two of them because such as Rita says “Flora-man” and then frank thinks she means flowers but Rita means the flora man from the advert which then gives the impression on the audience that gives them humour and it also shows that they come for two different worlds and can learn a lot from each other. She gives another impression by the way she talks about her personal life, she says “y’ know when I’m at the hairdressers” showing that she is able to talk about her life to frank and explain herself, making him understand her life and hopefully make a good impression on him as well as the audience. She is also being very talkative she says, ”I talk too much don’t I? I don’t at home. I hardly ever talk at home” which shows she is comfortable when talking to frank which is good for her not to be intimidated by him. Another impression Rita has on the audience is her characteristics of high and she enters the room and continues to move around the classroom. Her energy gives an impression because it contrasts with the body language of frank that is “sitting in the swivel chair” and hardly moves out of it. The stage directions of Rita include “wondering towards the door” and “coming back to the desk” this shows that she is moving around the room a lot and is obliviously an energetic person not only by body language but also but the way she talks as a very talkative person like I mentioned in the quote above. Willy Russell shows her as a high energetic person because at the moment she feels excited for her new course on not only getting an education but also discovering who is which shows she is making a new journey in life. She is ready and willing to learn for whatever frank is going to teach her. However this contrasts with the way that Rita wants to desperately learn and frank knows it and doesn’t want to teach her because is lazy and bored which is shown in his body language and reflects the way he feels about his job and life. Overall what strikes me about her character is her ability to persuade her tutor to actually be her tutor because first of all he refuses because he finds himself an “appalling teacher” and feels that Rita deserves better than him, however she does manage to talk him into it. She says” you’re my tutor, I don’t want another tutor” showing she has a likeness for frank and wants to take a risk with him ever after he told her how bad he was. She is also being assertive which means frank gives in to Rita showing she gave an impression on him already after the first meeting. Another characteristic that can give an impression on the audience is her desperation to become educated because while she was a child she would have wanted to play and have fun rather than learn but as she has grown she has released that she can become something more and all she needs is frank’s help to get her the education she should have got a long time ago.

The impression that Rita makes on the audience in Act 2 scene 1 is very different to act 1 scene 1 because she has now made new changes to her life. The first change that creates an impression on the audience was that she changed her appearance and clothes. This gives an impression on the audience while a stage direction says “ she twirls on the spot to show off her new clothes” this shows that she is happy with her new clothes and is able and happy to show them off because she is happy with the way she looks which ties in with the way that she feels about herself. She is giving the impression that she is confident and her new clothes reflect the way she is now and her new life as an educated woman, this also compares to the way that she now feels about herself and now how she is like the other students. The impression she gives to show that she is like the other students is that she now fits in with them and went to summer school with them and was going out and enjoying herself with the students. She tells frank “ we had a great time: dead late every night” showing she is good friends with the other students and she can easily be accepted by one of them and this then improves her confidence and shows even though she is educated she is still able to have fun with the other students. So at the moment she feels very good about herself and she even says to frank “ Frank you wudda been dead proud of me” showing that she thinks even frank should be proud of her and this new found confidence helps her to feel good about herself and able to develop her education more. Another impression that is made in the scene is they way she talks to frank which is now a lot different now because she talks in a more sophisticated language towards frank because she now knows a variety of formal language because she says “Actually I’m not too familiar with American poets” although she says she is not familiar with American poets but looking at the language she is speaking in a formal way. Although she speak more formally now she can still put her personality into the way she talks to frank by saying things like “dead good”. Her formal language has made her middle class and Russell shows Rita as a positive way of being middle class and because she has achieved being middle class she is happier because she knows she wasn’t born into it and it’s a new experience however with frank he was born into it and is not happy because he was already there and didn’t experience the journey, but the advantages of his upper class would be that he is looked up to as inspiration to Rita and she is inspiration to him because she is a new fresh mind for him instead of his boring boasting students. The new things we find out about her personal life gives an impression on the audience by first of all she has just moved in with a new flat mate Trish which shows that she has spilt up with Denny because he gave her an ultimatum to chose between having a baby or getting an education and she made a sacrifice of choosing to discover herself and felt she wasn’t ready for a baby. She says to Frank “Trish, me flatmate Trish, God is it that long since I’ve seen y’ Frank” which shows she is still able to talk to frank about her personal life. Another part of her personal life was giving up smoking showing she is leaving things like smoking behind and creating a new life for herself and nearly completed her journey to education. This shows Willy Russell’s attitude to education through her and if you take the sacrifice in life to get your education then you can get it. Her new interests in life reflect her new life and gives an impression on the audience by going to the theatre, going around London and buying new clothes so it shows she is trying to get rid of her old life and make room for her new one. She says to Frank “ Frank it was fantastic” which shows she is enjoying her new experiences and feels great about her new life.

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The changes that have taken place throughout Rita’s character between Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 2 Scene 1 are first of all the way she talks to frank and speaks in general. In the first act she speaks very colloquial saying things like “ stupid bleedin’ handle” showing she is not well spoken but she is not putting on an act just to impress frank because she would rather be herself. However in Act 2 Scene 1 she is more formally spoken and now has a wider range of literature knowledge than before but still can speak colloquial because that is still shown as part of her personality. She says “ I’m not too familiar “ which shows her language has definitely changed as she as become more educated then in the first scene of Act 1. Another change that she goes through between is the way that she now feels about herself to the way she used to feel about herself when she first came into the university. When she first met frank she felt she was unfulfilled and had not yet found her true self yet. She says “I want to discover myself first” which shows she was very insecure about herself and needs the help of frank to get her to where she wants to be. However in Act 2 Scene 1 she has become more confident and has even changed the way she dresses to also feel the part of an educated woman. She has grown to ‘discover’ herself. Another change she goes through is that in Act 1 Scene 1 she is nothing like the other students and feels very like an outcast from the group of students that are at the university. She says “Do you get a lot like me” which shows she knows that she is very different to the other students and doesn’t know what shes getting herself into. However in Act 2 Scene 1 she is very comfortable with the other students and they are now her friends because they go out together. She says “ A crowd of us stuck together all week” showing she has made new friends with the students and is accepted as one of them and can easily feel quite young again. In the first Act scene 1 she talks to frank about her personal life in a normal casual way but between the scenes her personal life changes dramatically from Act 1 Scene 1 to Act 2 Scene 1. First of all in Act 1 Scene 1 she smokes and clearly doesn’t care that is smoking, she says, “ Everyone seems to have packed in these days, They’re all afraid of getting cancer” which shows she doesn’t care about packing up smoking yet. In contrast, in Act 2 scene 1 her opinion changes towards smoking because now that she is educated she has given up. She says, “No-ta I’ve packed it in” showing she is moving on from her old self who used to smoke. Overall she has made a lot of changes throughout the first act to the second act and she as obliviously changed her life for the better.

Willy Russell decided that the character of Rita should change in these ways because he wants us to know, first of all, the way Rita’s character was at the start from being Rita choosing a name from the author of a book, “ Rita Mae Brown” then she changed more of her life through each scene and then in act 2 scene 1 she has totally transformed into a new educational woman which shows that people like Rita who want to change their lifestyle can achieve it if they are determined to make the changes themselves. Rita desperately wanted to change and become something and Willy Russell shows through Rita that education can be achieved. The important ideas that are explored in her character that changes are first of all her education, which is the most obvious change. She started off as a uneducated woman who spoke in colloquial language towards Frank then through the scenes she turns into an educated and formally spoken woman showing things can be achieved when you want them. Another important idea is that her personal life has changed from having a husband who desperately wanted a baby but in Act 2 scene 1 she breaks up with him because she didn’t want to have a baby yet because she wanted to discover herself before she wanted to settle down and have a child. This show she has made a sacrifice to get her education and in life you have to make these sacrifices to get what you want in the end. Another important change was her feeling about herself because at the start of the play she is feeling unfulfilled but in Act 2 scene 1 she turns into a more confident and knows who she is now and can decide in life what she wants to do with her new found education. Her class has obliviously changed because and the beginning her class is very different to Frank’s because she uses swear words and informal language but then in Act 2 scene 1 she is speaking formally and her class in society has changed to franks level. In Act 1 scene 1 they both have some language confusion with “flora man”. Rita means the advert and Frank thought it meant the flowers, which show his class, is more higher than her and he doesn’t have the knowledge of the cultural things in the 1980’s and Rita doesn’t know much about the poet Yeats when frank mentions him. However by Act 2 scene 1 she is now able to understand both classes and their society.

The different impressions that frank gives are first of all his reaction and expectations towards the new Open University student are not very well but it ties in with the feelings about his job, which he dislikes. He says while on the phone “ I will need to wash away the memory of some silly woman’s attempts to get into the mind of Henry James” this shows that he has little expectations of the new student and really just wants to go to the pub because where he says I will need to wash away it would obviously involve him getting drunk to get rid of the memory of his terrible day that he thinks he is going to have. However his first impression of Rita when he actually meets her he was probably expecting another one of his appalling students but is quite surprised at the way she is. Most of his speech to her was still in shock at her energy and great personality most of his speech was “Erm...yes” which shows he is shocked to find someone who is completely different to the other students and has actually no idea what to say to a new fresh mind that Rita is. She is doing most of the talking and also asking lots of questions. By the end of the scene he likes her and she wasn’t something that he would have expected as a student then release he wants her to do well in the course and feels that he is not the one to be able to teach her. He says “ your different, you want a lot I cant give” which shows he obviously cares about her and he sees her as a new fresh mind willing to learn but he knows himself as an appalling teacher and would rather see her succeed with a better tutor then go down with him. He also sees her as an assertive and persuasive towards him because he says “I know absolutely nothing” which shows he thinks he is that bad that he doesn’t know anything at all and is only trying to spare Rita from him being her tutor. However she has a like to him and manages to make him be her tutor saying “I don’t want another tutor”. So he eventually agrees to it which shows is can be quite a push over. At the start of Act 1 scene 1 he has a phone conversation with his girlfriend Julia which gives an impression on the audience about their relationship which is pretty bad. He acts as if he doesn’t want her and is doing her a favour to stay with her. He says after the phone call to her “yes, that’s it just go and pop off and put your head in the oven” this shows that frank finds Julia very irritating and his relationship is not really there because he doesn’t appreciate her attempts to cook for him for example he says “you should have prepared something other than lamb and ratatouille” which shows she it the one making the attempts and effect towards the relationship but he would just rather go to the pub then spend anytime with Julia. In Act 1 scene 1 Frank hates his job and it all ties in with how he feels about Rita and his expectations for her right at the beginning, his students, and also his relationship with Julia. First of all he is just expecting Rita to be another one of those students who think they know everything but soon discovers that she isn’t. Part of the reason he hates his job is because of his students, he says “appalling teacher is quite in order for my appalling students and others manage to get by despite me”. This shows his students don’t treat him like a teacher so then it causes Frank to be a really bad teacher because he is so irritated and bored with his students. He basically just had enough and has turned to drinking and during his talk with Julia he says “Oh God why did I take this on” showing he is already having doubts due to expectations of the students and his assurance that he is a bad teacher.

In Act 2 Scene 1 he knows that Rita has changed and clearly become more educated, but still feels it wasn’t him that helped her, his feelings about her changes is that he is generally pleased she has made so much progress with the course and knew along she was going to do well. He is very happy with her but he is slightly surprised like when she talks about Blake and Frank thinks she didn’t learn about him but then he says “you know him!” which shows his suprisement of now knowing who people like Blake are. The relationship with Julia in the first act he obviously was irritated by her but now it has ended with her; He says “it was caused by something called oeufs en cocotte”. This shows he is blaming her leaving him on something which is basically a serving of eggs, which shows he didn’t really care about Julia and seems generally not bothered by their break-up. When Rita says that they should have the tutorial outside but Frank thinks it is a bad idea and tries to persuade her otherwise for example “Nobody sits out there at this time of year”. This shows he doesn’t want to sit outside and maybe feels embarrassed if he does. Later Rita uses an analogy and compares the class room to a plant because they both need air. But frank after debating not to go outside he makes a joke out of the analogy. He says “and water presumably?” His reaction to her knowing Blake as I explained before was shock but pleased with her progress but he is a little disappointed because he wanted to teach her about it. He says “you weren’t supposed to do Blake at summer school” which shows he wanted to teach her about it and is confused at which is learned about Blake at summer school.

The changes that have taken place between the two scenes about Frank is that in the beginning to like to teach a new fresh mind that is Rita and she is very grateful whereas in Act 1 Scene 1 he absolutely hates his job and really didn’t want to teach his students and would generally rather go to the pub. Another change that happens is his personal life. We know that he would rather go to the pub like “I probably shall go to the pub” which shows he just goes to the pub after work to drown wash away his memories of the day. But in Act 2 scene 1 he now doesn’t drink as much as is nearly on his way to quitting the drink, its Rita’s constant disapproval of his alcohol and motivation that causes him to begin to give up the drink. But in Act 2 scene 1 he doesn’t drink as much and is almost on the way to being clean from his drinking problem, Rita says “Did y’ drink?” then Frank says “A little” which proves he is on his way to giving up because he has the motivation from Rita to give up. Overall I don’t think Frank went through as many changes as Rita but they both managed to help each other change in their own ways and able to discover themselves.

Willy Russell decided Frank to change in these ways because the audience knew Rita when through changes and he wanted to show that Frank has changed as well. Russell also did this because he wanted to show that they needed each other to change and become whatever they wanted to be and be happy. Frank’s personal life changes just like Rita’s does and he is very comfortable talking to Rita about it and this helps with their good friendship that has been made. Russell also decided for him to change because Frank can finally be happy from actually succeeding with his job instead of feeling worthless and stupid about it. He helped someone who he cared about and was a new fresh mind to him. He is obviously happy with the changes that Rita has made throughout and will be even happier knowing that helping her also helped him get over his drink problem. Knowing he has helped someone to get a proper education he can become a better teacher and can enjoy his job instead of loathing it.

At the end of Act 2 scene 1 Frank and Rita still need each others help to complete their different journeys. Rita now knows Blake’s poem on innocence and experience which was her own experience of learning, Blake’s poems of Innocence and Experience were the two contrary states of the human soul and Blake himself believed that children should become experienced through their own discoveries with compares to how Rita has learnt through experience how to discover herself. However she still needs Frank to help her take one more step forward to passing her exam and getting her education. Frank still needs Rita because although he has drunk less that at the start he still needs the motivation from Rita to stop the drinking altogether. This is very different to the Act 1 scene 1 because they were both beginning the journeys and now they are almost finishing it, so Rita begins her journey to education and Frank begins journey to give up his drinking problem and move on. This scene then prepares the audience from the ending on a positive perspective of them, Frank will move on from alcohol and perhaps a new job and Rita will take her literature exam, then they will both spilt up in a friendly way knowing they have helped one another change into something better than before.

Educating Rita by Willy Russell

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