Explore the series of events in the play "Educating Rita" through which the wider Willy Russel presents the changing character of Rita. Do you think she changes for the better?
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Introduction
Explore the series of events in the play "Educating Rita" through which the wider Willy Russel presents the changing character of Rita. Do you think she changes for the better? Rita makes a journey through her life and changes in many ways in the play. From starting her open university course, she ends up leaving her husband, moving out, quitting her job and starting a whole new life as an educated person. Rita's background is dull from her point of view. The people are all the same and they only do what is expected of them, and Rita is eager to break away from this. She says "they hate it when one of them tries to break away". Rita is a bold and confident person who isn't afraid to say what she feels, and this translates to her written essays, which are often sentimental and subjective. As she changes she becomes more educated, but also loses part of who she is. She also changes her dialect for a short period of the play. Her real accent is a strong liverpuddlian accent with many slang words and abbreviations. In one part of the play she describes how someone has told her she is "off me cake". ...read more.
Middle
It makes an interesting contrast to her "know it all" character near the end of the play. She is in the process of learning but is still not here. In Act 1 Scene 7 Rita is invited to go to Frank's for dinner. She decides not to go. Rita doesn't visit the party because she feels that she doesn't fit in. She feels that she should be back at home or down the pub with the rest of her family where she is expected to go. She sees herself as being "wrong". Even the wine she brings she feels doesn't fit in. She also mentions that she doesn't want to "play the court jester". Maybe she slightly feels that she would be amusement and entertainment for the night because she is not like the other guests. This following scene is almost like a turning point for Rita. It is significant to show how Rita is changing, When Denny gives her an ultimatum, she goes for the more difficult option and leave shim. This shows her strength. It is almost as if she is growing up. The following Act shows very obviously that this is a complete turning point for Rita. ...read more.
Conclusion
He has developed her potential but maybe he now feels he has changed her. There now becomes a crisis between the pair and their relationship changes. The cause of the first argument is the poetry that Frank he given Rita to criticise. He doesn't not agree with her interpretation and view of it. She tells him that he is not able to accept that she has changed for the better since he first met her. But is it for the better or worse? Or is it just the same? In the final scenes of the production we are shown that Frank and Rita are both going to embark on different stages of their lives. Frank is preparing to leave for Australia and Rita, after passing her exams, is deciding which move to make and which direction her life could take. You can see now that Rita is able to make decisions for herself, and this is probably one of the most important changes she has made throughout the play. In conclusion, I personally think that Rita has not changed for better or for worse. I think she has simply changed, and there is no way anyone can be put to blame for this change of praised for it. She has become a different person in herself, but rather than "finding a better song to sing" she has simply only found a different tune in life. ...read more.
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