Rita then defends Tyson, telling Frank that the reason she talks to the students is because ‘they’re young, and they’re passionate about things that matter. They’re not trapped, they’re too young for that…’ And Frank tries a little reverse psychology; ‘Perhaps – perhaps you don’t want to want to waste your time coming here anymore?’ To which Rita replies by apologising, and tells Frank that she’s got to go to a play with her flatmate Trish, another one of Frank’s dislikes. This leads to an argument after Frank says that Rita can ‘hardly bear to spend a moment’ there, and says again; ‘…Rita, if you want to stop com-’. Rita then angrily gives the excuse of her exam being the reason she’s coming to his tutorials. Frank tells her that she’d ‘sail right through it anyway, you really don’t have to put in the odd appearance out of sentimentality; I’d rather you spared me that…’ This I can imagine he says quite lazily while sipping alcohol. Rita then replies back angrily; ‘If you could stop pouring that junk down your throat…it might be worth comin’ here.’ Rita explains that she understands literary criticism, and Frank gives her a volume of poetry written by him. This perhaps shows that even though they are slightly angry at each other, he still trusts her enough to show her his personal creation, something that his wife presumably left him for.
Then we come on to Scene Five. Rita comes into his office, and explains to him that she thinks his poetry are masterpieces; ‘…This is brilliant. They’re witty. They’re profound. Full of style.’ And they go through a little joke about how Rita wouldn’t have understood it in the beginning, but she understands it now; ‘…I wouldn’t have understood it, Frank…’ to which Frank replies ‘Oh, I’ve done a fine job on you, haven’t I.’ He then refers back to something that was mentioned in the beginning, the fact that Rita’s actual name is Susan, but she changed it, and named herself after the author of her favourite book The Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae-Brown. He suggests that he should name himself Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. This is an important reference, because Frankenstein was the story of a monster, and by having Frank call himself Mary Shelley, this shows that he thinks he’s created a monster in Rita. Rita has now become more literate, more intelligent, and has shown that she doesn’t need Frank anymore. Frank doesn’t like this, as he liked the fact that she had to depend on him for most things. He shows dislike for her new found intelligence when she protests against his negative comments about his poetry, and he replies; ‘Oh, I don’t expect you to believe me, Rita; you recognize the hallmark of literature now, don’t you? Why don’t you just go away? I don’t think I can bear it any longer.’ When Rita asks him what he can’t bear, he replies; ‘You, my dear – you…’ And Rita loses her temper.
‘I’ll tell you what you can’t bear, Mr. Self-Pitying Piss Artist; what you can’t bear is that I’m educated now…y’ can no longer bounce me on daddy’s knee an’ watch me stare back in wide-eyed wonder at everything he has to say…I’ve got a room full of books. I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what papers and book to read. I can do without you.’
When Frank attempts a witty answer, still calling her Rita, she laughs in his face: ‘Rita? (She laughs) Rita? Nobody calls me Rita but you. I dropped that pretentious crap as soon as I saw it for what it was. You stupid…Nobody calls me Rita.’
Frank now mocks her as she leaves the room, suggesting other names for her, such as Virginia, Charlotte, Jane and Emily, all names of famous female writers. The scene then ends.
These two scenes are important in understanding the development of Rita and Frank’s relationship because it shows powerful emotions between them both. Rita seems annoyed that he doesn’t seem to like her being independent with her knowledge, and Frank is upset because she no longer needs him. He feels affection for her, because she is fresh and young, and not like the other students, at least, she wasn’t, until he taught her. He might now regret teaching her because he changed her individuality, and he loved her for that, the thing that has now changed.
The fact that they even had this argument shows that they both want to know where they stand in the relationship, otherwise either one of them could have walked away. When she tells him his poetry is not ‘worthless, talentless shit…and gives publishing a bad name…’ she wants to contradict him, because she for one cares about what he thinks of himself, and his self-esteem does seem to be low. This shows that however much he doesn’t try and show his emotions towards her in this scene, she still cares for him, but just not in the way he’d hoped she would.
Word Count: 1,259 words. (Without Title)
