Scene 2 shows a development in the relationship between Frank and Rita. The audience sees that Frank is eager t see Rita as he “glances at his watch” three times. Rita also oils Frank’s door so she can get in easier. This proves that she already cares for Frank but this is also a metaphor- it is easier for her to enter the room- representing an easier entrance into an education.
Rita still has a lot to learn as her first essay was very subjective as she called ‘Howard’s End’ “crap”. In this scene, Rita begins to copy and pick up on Frank’s use of language
“ tell me why you think it’s quote, ‘crap’, unquote.
E.M. Forster says, quote ‘ we are not concerned with the poor’ unquote.” showing that Rita is eager to learn and copy off Frank to be like him, but also that she can argue with Frank.
Frank and Rita clearly have different vocabulary
“Well, it’s immoral.
Amoral.”
This is because they have had completely different experiences of education. Rita talks about her culture and the expectations for her;
“Is this the absolute maximum I can expect from this livin’ lark”
this, again shows that Rita wants to change and doesn’t like her culture (and again the audience sympathize with her) because she can’t do what she wants as it will go against what other people think, like it was in her school days;
“See, if I’d started takin’ school seriously I would have had to become different from me mates an’ that’s not allowed.”
This may still be the case as Rita is still be going against what people think of her, like it could have been when she went to school.
Rita still doesn’t feel like a proper student;
“ The ones who come here all the time. The proper students.”
This is because she is not yet confident to write essays, speak and behave like they do.
In act 1 scenes 3 and 4, Rita’s intelligence becomes more obvious as she gets into the course but Frank is still not impressed with Rita’s essays and tells her how to improve on them.
The major event in act 1 scene 5 shows Rita entering Frank’s office with no books or essays as Denny has burnt them. She stands “staring out of the window”- Rita wants to be free and has come back to the tutorial There is clear evidence of Rita’s change in this scene as can be told on the context of her speech;
“I’m busy enough findin’ meself, let alone findin’ someone else…I’ve begun to find me- an’ it’s great y’ know, it is Frank.” This significant point in the play makes the audience relate/ sympathizes with Rita and they also want Rita to achieve what she wants.
Although Rita has gone through obvious change, it is still evident that her use of language and colloquialism hasn’t changed greatly. Her manners are also the same; she still “dumps her bag on the chair” and hangs her own coat on the door. There is still a difference between the knowledge of Frank and Rita but the audience can tell that she has changed by comparing her knowledge to Denny’s;
“I’m not havin’ it off with Anton Chekhov. He said, ‘ I wouldn’t put it past you to shack up with a foreigner.’”
Rita also demonstrates the importance of the course when she says;
“But it’s not takin’ the place of life, it’s providin’ me with life itself.”
She also recognizes the importance of the course and explicitly mentions the change of language when she describes it as
“startin’ all over again, y’ know with a different language”
this shows that she knows how much work it is going to take to achieve her goal- to have the status that Frank has.
Scene 6 starts with Rita going to Frank, she is so eager to tell him about what she saw at the theatre that she goes to see Frank even though they don’t have a tutorial on that day and shows that in her actions swell;
“Moving over to the desk; quickly”
“It was bleedin’ great, honest, ogh, it done me in, it was fantastic.”
Rita is clearly enthusiastic about the play but is still using inappropriate language and dialect “ I’ve gorra tell someone”, showing that her language has yet to develop along with her knowledge of english. Rita also went to buy the book, also showing her excitement to discover more about Macbeth. Rita’s eagerness to learn has also grown when she went and stayed with Frank, she also had the confidence to answer a question;
“It is for the poor sod under the tree”
In this scene Frank also asks Rita to go to come to his house and Rita replies by asking
“An’ y’ want me to come? Why?”
this is because she doesn’t feel good enough to go to Frank’s house as she is worried about what everyone there will think about her and is also worried about what Denny will think. The audience can see the development in Frank and Rita’s relationship and can tell that Frank is obviously attracted to Rita.
Rita ends up not going to Frank’s house and we discover this in scene 7 for the main reason that she thought people would judge her; at first she was reluctant to answer and “starts sharpening pencils” because she is embarrassed.
“Well you wouldn’t take sweet sparkling wine would y’?”
This shows that she still isn’t confident about being around people of Frank’s class and Rita even calls herself a “freak” and a “half-caste” because she is half educated and half of what she was before she wanted an education. This will make Rita feel confused as she doesn’t even know what she is, she is still discovering herself.
Scene 8 is the pinnacle point of act 1 where it reaches a climax and Rita decides to leave Denny, she chose education over her relationship and wanted to sing “a better song”, showing that she really did want to change. The better song, she believes, will be achieved through an education.
Between the end of act 1 and the beginning of act2, time has passed and Rita has been to summer school in this time. She returns to Frank’s room and “bursts through the door”. This shows the audience that Rita is more confident and her appearance- “dressed in new, second-hand clothes”- also reveals that she has changed in the time she has been away. She also shows a change in her manners “she takes off her shawl and gives it to Frank”, Rita as become more lady-like and is making a conscious effort to show Frank that she has changed.
Although Rita has made a change in her physical appearance, there is still an element of the old Rita in her speech. She continues to use slang and colloquialism;
“It was dead good”; “Y’know at first I was dead scared.”
When Rita talks about her experiences at summer school, she mentions talking to a tutor and how she stopped herself from telling joke and talked sensibly;
“It was right on the tip of me tongue to say, ‘Only when it’s served with Parmesan cheese’, but, Frank, I didn’t. I held it back.”
This proves to Frank and the audience that Rita now has the ability to control herself and behave sensibly.
Rita has also grown so confident that she was able to stand up in front of the students and ask a question;
“I was askin’ questions all week, y’ couldn’t keep me down.”
This is an element of change, implying that Rita is now confident around students and thinks of herself as being their equal.
“I feel young, you know like them down there.”
This shows her identification with other students and the comparisons she made between her and the other students in the first act are now gone.
In the first act, Rita was only able to look out of the window (a symbol of freedom) and at the students beyond it. Rita wanted to be free and wanted to achieve what the other students could do. In this scene Rita wants to go on the lawn- beyond the window;
“Come on, let’s go an’ have the tutorial down there.”
Now that Rita has changed there seems to be a reversal in the roles that Frank and Rita take on as Frank cannot seem to go beyond the window and is reluctant to join Rita;
“On the grass? Nobody sits out there at this time of year.”
Frank doesn’t seem to want freedom, but now Rita has choices, she wants to have freedom.
Although Rita uses mostly her old speech in this scene, she shows her knowledge of literature and the language used when she occasionally uses the language herself;
“Well any analogy will break down eventually”; “Parody”
and Rita also speaks knowingly about literature;
“you don’t do Blake without doing innocence and experience do y’?”
The most obvious change in Rita, apart from her appearance and confident actions, is when she recites the Blake poem.
“(Reciting from memory)”
Rita is no longer reliant on Frank, as he expected to be teaching Rita something new, but she already knew lots about it already from summer school. This is difficult for Frank to cope with as he used to be the character with more knowledge and authority;
“You know it!”
Frank is clearly shocked at Rita’s new abilities as he was going to teach her what she already knew. He responds to Rita’s explanation of knowing the poem with a very short answer;
“No, of course.”
Frank is no longer able to teach or correct Rita, which makes him feel
insecure, like Denny he cannot cope with the change in Rita.
Act scene 2 is very significant as this is when Rita becomes a proper student. This is still shown in her appearance but the difference between this scene and act 2 scene 1 is that Rita is speaking with a posh accent and using standard English and sophisticated vocabulary;
“I know, Frank. I’m terribly sorry. It was unavoidable.”
The audience can now see that she has been heavily influenced by her new flat-mate (who she looks up to and desires to be like) and fellow students;
“As Trish says there is not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice.”
Rita stops talking in this voice when Frank says she sounds like a Dalek- he like the old Rita and cannot cope with the change in her. Her change in voice shows that she isn’t happy with herself and wants to undergo even more change. Frank shows he is more shocked at Rita’s change when he is surprised that Rita was talking to the other students (Rita is now confident enough to talk to them).
“You were talking to students- down there?”
Her confidence with talking to other students proves that Rita is now a proper student and she can now argue for herself on subjects such as literature (something she didn’t even know about in the first act, and wouldn’t even dream of arguing about it).
“He was an idiot. His argument just crumbled. It wasn’t just me- everyone else agreed with me.”
Rita has proved to Frank that she can argue for herself and meet the standards of the other students in her exam- she had reached her goal.
“Oh- it- erm- wouldn’t look out of place with these.”
In scene 3, the audience sees a massive change, this time in Frank, not Rita. He enters in a very drunken manner and swearing, using the language that Rita used to use.
“Sod them-no, fuck them! Fuck them, eh, Rita?”
This shows a major role reversal in Frank and Rita, Frank has become of more careless and this is probably caused by his dislike of Rita’s change and not being able to cope with it. Instead of sticking up for Frank, Rita questions him on the consequences- she seems more concerned about what Frank has done and being sensible about what will happen.
“Well it’s hardly fair on them if their lecturer’s so pissed that he’s falling off the rostrum.”
Frank even told the students that; ”’Assonance means getting the rhyme wrong…’”
This is a phrase that Rita used in the first act, before she was educated.
Frank and Rita have a discussion about the Blake poem in this scene which starts off about literature and turns into an emotive argument.
“Because- because I care for you- I want you to care for yourself.”
Rita responds to this angrily, showing that she is very self aware and knows she has changed and doesn’t need Frank anymore;
“I don’t need you to hold me hand as much… I can do things on me own more now… I know what I’m doin’… don’t keep treatin’ me as though I’m the same as when I first walked in here.”
Frank finds Rita’s change too impersonal, h is not proud of what Rita has become and can’t find the old Rita, even though her essay writing has improved.
Rita changes yet another time in scene 4 when she changes jobs- she wants to put the past behind her and shows her transformation to another character. Rita doesn’t tell Frank about changing jobs which makes him feel insecure, left out and he shows a lot of self pity;
“It struck me that there was once a time when you told me everything.”
Frank cannot deal with the change and knowing that he is no longer in control of Rita- ha cannot help or give her what she wanted anymore.
Frank is desperate to show Rita that she has got too carried away with literature and even putting it before ordinary life;
“Are you capable of recognizing what does or does not matter Rita?”
Rita feels that she is capable of deciding what matters and what does not, for once in her life; she has choices and believes that she is making all the right ones for herself.
“I understand literary criticism, Frank. When I come here that’s what were supposed to be dealing with.”
As Rita said this, Frank gave her his poetry to analyse to see if the old Rita is there or a more objective, cold- hearted Rita has taken her place- to see what Rita puts first and to see where he stands.
Rita returns in scene 5 to show Frank what she thought of his poetry. Rita’s praise of his work confirms to Frank that the old Rita has gone and, infact, Rita I able to work independently and talk about it with sophisticated vocabulary;
“They’re witty. They’re profound. Full of style.”
When Frank sees that Rita can talk about it this manner, he uses sarcasm and swearing;
“heap of shit”; “from now on I shall insist upon being known as Mary Mary Shelley.”
Frank then speaks in a monologue as he has a lot to say to Rita, finally he tells her because Rita’s proof of knowledge is frustrating for Frank. Frank feels that the changes Rita has gone through don’t represent a better song to sing.
“Found a better song to sing have you? No- you’ve found a different song, that’s al- and on your lips it’s shrill and hollow and tuneless.”
Frank believes that Rita has gone too far and that he has created a monster, in a way that Rita has become equal to or more knowledgeable (powerful) than Frank. He compares their relationship to the one of the doctor and Frankenstein, the monster;
“She wrote a little Gothic number called Frankenstein.”
Frank cannot cope with Rita’s change and becomes very angry;
“(He rips the poems up and throws them on the desk)” and tells Rita to go away.
Rita responds to Frank’s actions and words with a monologue of all her thoughts, but instead of showing her anger physically, she walks away from Frank;
“(She gets up and picking up her bag moves away from the desk in the direction of the door.)”
By doing this she shows the audience she can control herself in difficult situations but, unlike in the first act, Frank cannot- an obvious reversal in the roles of Frank and Rita.
Rita reverts back to using colloquialism in her monologue- she is concentrating more on what she says, not how she says it. The audience knows this as Rita uses swear words and abbreviations;
“Mr. Self-Pitying Piss Artist”’ “don’t y’ like me now?”
She proves her change when she confirms to Frank that she doesn’t need him because she now has everything she wanted;
“I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what papers and books to read. I can do it without you.”
Rita has again, changed. This time going back to her old name Susan, but this time there is a new persona to go with it, not the ‘old’ Susan. Frank responds to this by, again, using sarcasm;
“What is it now then? Virginia?...Or Charlotte? Or Jane? Or Emily?”
In the first act, Rita was clueless about all the things she knows now and was totally dependant on Frank.
The final scene in the play, scene 7, is different to all the others as Rita is in the room before Frank, revealing her confidence and familiarity with the room;
“(and opens the door revealing Frank)”
The audience sees a part of the old Rita return when she lights a cigarette. Frank does not talk to Rita when he enters the room, this may be because he is guilty about what he said to her or embarrassed because he has been asked to leave.
Like in the first act, Rita begins to ask personal questions;
“what y’ gonna do?”; “she’s not goin’ with y’?”
She is also speaking in her normal voice, using colloquialism and her old dialect but uses the vocabulary she didn’t use before. This means that the relationship has gone back to normal and Rita’s feisty personality is back.
Rita’s actions have also reverted back to those in act 1; instead of using proper manners, she “perches on the small table”. She admits that, like Frank said, she went too far;
“You think I ended up with a load of quotes an’ empty phrases; an’ I did. But that wasn’t you doin’. I was so hungry, I wanted it all so much that I didn’t want to be questioned.”
Rita also shows the superficiality of the life she chose to have;
“She’d tried to top herself. Magic isn’t it?” an this phrase she also uses sarcasm, something that Frank used after the role reversal, but now she is using it, the audience know that the roles are back to normal.
The main theme in the play is choices. In the first act, Rita had no choices in her stereotypical life. When she chose education, it meant she could choose whatever she wanted.
“But I chose not to. I had a choice…I’ll make a decision. I’ll choose I dunno…I chose, me.”
Frank is still attracted to Rita as he buys her a dress and, like in act 1, Rita diffuses the situation and is able to be light- hearted about it;
“An educated woman, Frank? An’ this is what you call a scholary neckline?”
Although the relationship has returned to normal, with Rita using her old dialect but with a wide range of vocabulary, the end of the scene shows Rita being in control and feisty when she cut Frank’s hair.
In the play, Rita learned that she could have choices but choosing one thing e.g. Education does not mean complete denial of another eg. Family. She shows she has developed and been educated but is able to reconcile her education with her culture that she detested in the first act and thought there were better songs to sing. Rita took the changes too far, by speaking in a posh accent and getting rid of her regional dialect. When Frank explained this to her and Rita realized she had gone too far, she returned to using her old dialect, making the relationship return to normal. Although Rita went back to her ways in act 1, she proves that she has been educated and this is evident in the vocabulary she uses.