How does Russell show the differences between Frank and Rita in Educating Rita?

        Act one Scene 7 sees frank and Rita discussing why it is Rita did not attend a dinner party that franks girlfriend was throwing.  Willy Russell did very well in the scene of showing the class division between franks social group and Rita's.  When frank first invites Rita in Act 1 Scene 6 we see the early signs of her nervousness.  She asks him “What shall I wear?” and wants to know why he wants her there, as if he has a hidden agenda for inviting her.  I think she is worried that she wont have anything to say, etc and she hasn’t quite made the leap between her old lifestyle that she hates and the new one that she always dreamed of.  She desperately wants to change, but something inside her holds her back.  She feels insecure about herself “I’m a freak”, so instead of making the change she reverts back the old ways, down the pub on a Saturday night with her folks and Denny listening to the same song as always on the jukebox, everybody singing.  I feel that frank finally begins to see things from Rita’s point of view and towards the end of the scene, starts to understand her.  I can relate to Rita’s nerves, as it is never easy meeting new people, especially when they are of a higher social background to you.  I think that Russell was attempting to show just how hard it is for people with a lower class education to make something decent out of their lives.

        Act 2 Scene 7 shows frank and Rita being at very different points in their lives.  Rita finally has the education of her dreams and frank is preparing to pack it all in and move to Australia.  I think they deal with these changes very differently, for example, Frank is being sarcastic about the entire thing and wont answer Rita as questions properly whereas Rita takes things more seriously now.  In a way, I think they have switched roles. It seems although Trish’s attempted suicide, which we hear about in Scene 7, has matured Rita and made her realise that you can have the best education money can buy and still be miserable, so therefore she begins to understand frank.  Rita, or Susan as she is now known has matured in one more way also, “Rita? Nobody calls me Rita but you.  I dropped that pretentious crap as soon as I saw it for what it was.” – Act 2 Scene 5.

        Russell does an excellent job, throughout the play, of making the audience aware of the differences between Frank and Rita.  He uses dialogue, “Y’ can tell he’s a Flora man” “Flora? Flowers?” their past experiences and how they view life, Rita is very much a free spirit whereas frank has always obeyed the rules, and also stage directions to clarify their differences.  Rita is always doing something (getting up and wandering around) or (moving over to the desk; quickly) yet Frank is more at rest.  I think the characters are somewhat believable, if not a little OTT, although this may have been done for affect.  The play isn’t as relevant today as it was when it was written, I feel as education has changed a great deal in the time since it was written and there is such a blatant class division nowadays.  Nevertheless it is a good story and an entertaining movie.