“….I’m actually an appalling teacher….You want a lot, and I can’t give it. Everything I know - and you must listen to this – is that I know absolutely nothing.”
Page 25
Frank is truly honest to Rita in this particular speech but what he doesn’t realise is he is not being honest because he is a very good teacher whom of which know a great amount. He doesn’t believe that he is a good teacher because he has always been hacked at by his students, which overtime, has diminished his self esteem. Although Frank doesn’t like his work, he still has a love for literature. He explains this when telling Rita about his collection of literature and poems.
“RITA: Have you read this stuff?….
FRANK: Every last syllable.”
Page 21
When a person exclaims that they have read “Every last syllable” of a book, they mean that they have enjoyed reading it and have read it thoroughly. When he speaks, he frequently makes sarcastic comments.
“….I sometimes get the urge to throw sometime out of it…. A student usually.”
Page 19
Frank sees the more usual students as dull and over-educated. When ever they start to suggest that they know more than him, he wishes that he could throw them out of the window to make them be quiet and stop criticising him. This is sarcastic because he wasn’t actually going to throw them out of the window but when the students look down at him, he wants to be ale to throw them out of the window. From all these examples, by the end of the scene the audience knows that Frank has a trait of being lazy and avoiding tasks and situations which take time and effort to do. There is evidence of this on page 14.
“RITA: You wanna get it fixed!
FRANK: Erm-yes. I suppose I always mean to….”
Page 14
Frank is show here admitting that he is unwilling to do thing that are extra to what he is meant to do. Even though Rita explains that it is difficult to enter the room because of the broken door handle, Frank does not act on the advice and the next month, in the next scene, when Rita comes for her tutorial and fixes the handle before entering the room.
Rita makes her entrance by bursting through the door abruptly because the handle was broken, as mentioned before. Her entrance is typical of her character: bursting through the door is a reflection of her bursting into Frank’s life. “A breath of fresh air,” is how Frank describes her because she is has a wild spirit; she is daring with her remarks; and refreshing because she is so different to the normal students that Frank teaches. Her goal by enrolling on the Open University is to earn a qualification so that she can make something of her life and change her destiny. She doesn’t want to be a ladies hairdresser all her life and raise children with her husband Denny. Her commitment to the course fluctuates during the scene. She obviously found it necessary to come to the meeting in the first place but shortly after meeting Frank she suggests that she may not continue course.
“….If I pack the course in I’ll post it to y.”
Page 18
Rita says here that she might pack in the course because it might not be what she wants to do but underneath she does want to complete the course and be able to change her life so that she can have a better quality of life and be in a job that she will enjoy doing. If she is planning on giving up before she has even introduced herself to Frank then she wouldn’t have turned up to the meeting, but she did. She also doesn’t think much of the degree because she calls it a, “Degree for Dishwashers” and that is all she believes she is capabile of and that is what she wants to change. Rita, like Frank, also has a bad attitude to work and life but unlike Frank she is doing something about it. She is sacrificing a lot to change, her job and her relationship with her family and husband Denny. She is lying to Denny saying that she is still on the pill because she knows that before she has a family she wants to have more of a life and to have achieved something in it.
“See, I don’t wanna baby yet. See, I wanna discover meself first.”
Page 24
Rita wants to change so much that she is willing to deceive her husband so she has a chance to do so. Because she is lying the audience may think that soon Denny might find out that she is lying to him and might become full of rage. Later on in the play these suspicions are brought to light as Denny burns Rita’s books. Rita, although not educated, is still very intelligent. This is shown first when Rita starts to talk about the picture in Franks office. She uses very formal and mature words such as “erotic” when she describes the picture. The audience are given an impression of Rita from her entrance and first comments to Frank that she is not very intelligent because of her Liverpudlian accent and her misunderstanding of Franks question, “You are?” Another example of Rita’s intelligence is how she tests Frank by swearing to see what sort of a response she will get from that. Testing someone shows intelligence because it takes intelligence to time it correct and to accurately determine what is appropriate to test that person with. Rita, when talking, moves around the room picking up books and leaning on the desk and chairs. This shows more about her character because she is very lively and she doesn’t want to be still and calm and she needs an outlet for her energy that resides within her.
During the first scene the audience learn about three relationships between characters. They first relationship that they audience learn about, is the relationship between Frank and his girlfriend Julia. The telephone conversation between Frank and Julia draws attention to the audience that their relationship is not steady. This is show by Frank’s sarcastic comment that went too far and was hurtful, that he utters after he puts down the receiver.
“Yes, that’s it; you just pop off and put your head in the oven.”
Page 14
Frank’s normal sarcastic comments are said to add humour to his conversations but this comment was said to be insensitive but it was said after the receiver of the telephone had been replaced so Julia couldn’t hear. Other secondary relationship that is between Rita and Denny her husband. As said before, Rita has to lie to her husband so that she can be able to complete the course so this means that the relationship must have been deteriorating beforehand for her to lie and not say to her husband that she doesn’t want a baby. The main relationship in the play is the relationship between Frank and Rita. There is an obvious connection between the two characters from the moment they engage in conversation. Even though they are from different ends of the class spectrum they put that aside and come together. Frank as Rita’s tutor is intended to teacher Rita, and that he does very well as she passes her exam ultimately, but Rita also tries to teach Frank so he to change his life but this comes to no avowal because he doesn’t want to change, as explained previously. Before these two people meet, Frank makes a prejudgement of what he thinks Rita is going to be like. He calls her a “silly women” but once they have met it is obvious that he doesn’t think that she is a silly woman. What shows that they have this good relationship is that they don’t insult each other to be cruel and they frequently compliment each other.
“….Because you’re a crazy mad piss artist who wants to throw students out of the window, an’ I like you.”
Page 26
She jokingly insults Frank but those are the traits that she is looking for as a teacher and not a boring normal teacher and this is why she like him and argues with him when he refuses to be her teacher. Another point in the scene which shows that they have this bond is they way they at they understand each other in conversation even though Rita has a strong Liverpudlian accent and abbreviates many of her words: while Frank uses a very formal accent and uses an educated vocabulary. Both Frank and Rita get a little confused from time to time because of different cultures that their points of references come from. Rita associates things with popular television programs of that era and trashy novels.
“RITA: Eliot Ness – y’ know, the famous Chicago copper who caught Al Capone.
FRANK: Ah. When you said Elliot I assumed you meant T.S. Elliot.”
Page 21
Frank’s points of reference are from classic literature, distinguished authors and influential poets.
“FRANK: Do you know Yeats?
RITA: The wine lodge?
FRANK: Yeats the poet.”
Page 20
But even when they find each other difficult to understand they don’t become mad and argumentative with each other furthermore the help each other understand what they mean by explaining it in language that they both understand when they realise the other party doesn’t understand what they are talking about. This shows that they value each other and want to help them when they need help.
This play was written to entertain the audience. Willy Russell took time construct the storyline and plot so that there are many chances to add complex humour and simple childlike jokes perfectly timed and inserted in the ideal place. Most of these jokes where meant for the audience to relate to: to look across the person next to them or just to think to themselves that “I’m like that” or “I’ve done that” and laugh at the predicament the characters are in and the fact that they have also felt this and are feeling embarrassed and self conscious. There is an example of this on page 26.
“You look like a geriatric hippie”
Page 26
The audience will relate to this because some men, in their mid-life crisis, grow their hair long because they believe it is ‘cool’ and the audience member will feel embarrassed because the fact that it is it isn’t ‘cool’ and it is being raised to everybody and highlighting every person who is like it. Frank’s sarcasm adds humour to the scene because he mocks what being a real teacher is about. Hiding a bottle of whiskey behind the books in the bookcase in his study shows what an unorthodox teacher he is. It is also humours because the audience is fooled into believing that he is looking for a book and when he pulls out a bottle of whiskey, it is an unexpected surprise. The audience is entertained by the technique of reparation that Russell uses. Rita mimics Frank when she gives him a compliment, “Don’t you recognize a compliment?” is what is repeated. She says it a moment after Frank has just said it to her. This is funny because it has been purposely placed so the event of Frank saying to Rita is still there in the memories and find it funny when Rita repeats it again. As well as the audience being entertained by the humour, they are entertained by the plot and the shocking unexpected additions like Rita’s swearing. Even though this might be expected because of her background, but it still comes as a surprise. This is because she is at an interview and she is also meeting Frank for the first time and swearing is not appropriate for that formal situation. Entertaining the audience Russell’s main objective. His storyline tells the story of two people of different ends of the class spectrum coming together. This first scene leads the audience into believing that these two people will be getting together. Because of this, the audience is intrigued into finding out if this relationship is going to blossom and what is going to become of it. This means that because the audience is asking question to themselves about what is going to happen, they must be involved and to be involved they must be being entertained.
Willy Russell’s attempt to make the opening scene a good introduction to the main characters was very successful as the audience is knowledgeable of their past, their present and are told about what their future goals are and are given clues into what might happen in the rest of the play. Because the audience is well informed of these factors it means that Russell’s target to entertain the audience. The relationship between these two characters and other relationships outside of it are also introduced well to the audience. The audience is given the chance in the scene to predict what will happen between the two characters: whether they will keep the strict teacher/ student relationship; become friends who are there for each other when they are needed and give support and advice; or whether they will get together as a couple. Russell also does well with entertaining the audience. His main technique to do this is humour which is added frequently and in turn certifies that the audience will be entertained. To conclude the whole scene shows how Willy Russell has intentionally placed every word so that the scene is an excellent introduction to the main characters and their relationship between each other; and how he made this scene dramatic and entertaining.
Educating Rita written by Willy Russell, published by New Longman Literature - 2000
