Rita knows from the beginning that changing herself isn’t going to be easy.
“…they expect too much. They walk in the hairdresser’s an’ an hour later they wanna walk out a different person.” –Pg 22/23
She relates this to how she realized by herself that she must change herself from the inside to break free from the mould of the ‘masses’ and to be someone who she wants to be rather than another accustomed case.
On the other hand, in act one Rita also shows an attitude of ignorance, she realizes that she talks about subjects of irrelevance when she is nervous and apologizes to Frank. This is, in a way, a contradiction of her self-consciousness, as she doesn’t want people of a higher class to recognize her true self, where as she let’s herself be portrayed as an uneducated person anyway by talking a lot.
“Frank: What do you want to know?
Rita: Everything”
-Pg 18
By this she means she wants to learn what is relevant, not the same old, irrelevant and pointless news that came from people of her class.
On Rita’s entrance into the play, she is perceived by the reader as being a common, working class hairdresser. Russell gets a valid point across to the reader about how ignorant Rita is towards literature at the beginning of the play. However, scene six is a vital part of the play in which you can see Rita’s character beginning to change. At the beginning of the scene Russell describes Rita ‘bursting through the door’. This shows the side of Rita that was recognized at the beginning of the play, a confident, and full of life woman who ‘burst’ into Frank’s life
When Rita enters she seems overwhelmed and anxious. Frank seems worried about Rita before she explains why she is there, this is because he probably thought that Denny had hurt her; he knew this because Rita had began to open up to Frank about how her family do not want her to change in the previous scene.
“Rita:…Denny found out I was on the pill again; it was my fault, I left me prescription out. He burnt all me books.” – Pg 51
In fact Rita just tells Frank that she has been to a professional theatre, her enthusiasm shows how she can see she has changed to appreciate the works of authors and playwrights, from how she explained herself previously as been “ignorant” towards this kind of thing.
Also in this scene Rita starts to pick up and understand some of Frank’s sarcastic comments whereas earlier on in the play they flew straight over her head.
“Frank: (deliberately): Ah. Romeo and Juliet.
Rita: (moving towards Frank) Tch. Frank! Be serious.” – Pg 60
This shows a change because before Frank was telling Rita to be serious and to come into the room and get on with work whereas now Rita is telling Frank to be serious. Her understanding of humor indicates that she is becoming more intelligent and open-minded.
In this scene Rita takes over more and actually seems interested and understands what she is telling Frank.
“Its fun, tragedy, isn’t it? (She goes over to the window) All them out there, they don’t know all about that sort of thing don’t they?” – Pg 62
Rather than Frank having to help her understand, she is seeing techniques and pin-pointing important things in literature by herself. The stage directions of Rita moving towards the window and comparing her knowledge to that of ‘them out there’, I think, convey her coming closer to the same level of understanding as the other students.
In act two it is almost as if Rita and Frank have switched characters.
In scene one Rita had just returned from summer school. After not seeing frank in such a long time, she begins to tell him about what an amazing time she has had at summer school. Rita starts to show obvious signs that she is learning to hold intelligent conversations confidently, without worrying about what the ‘higher class’ thinks of her.
“Rita: this tutor came up to me and he said ‘Are you fond of Ferlinghetti?’ Frank, it was on the tip of me tongue to say, "Only when served with Parmesan.” But, Frank, I didn't, I held it back. And I heard meself saying... 'Actually, I'm not too familiar with the American poets.’”
It is clear from Frank’s reactions that he has noticed a change in her. A distance appears between them as Rita separates herself from her lost insecurities into her knew found world of independence where she no longer needs Frank or anyone else’s support.
In this scene Rita tells frank how she is being influenced by new people around her, her younger friends seem to be giving her a new lease in life and how she looks up to and admires them.
You can also tell Rita has moved on from Denny and the life she had before as she says:
“I’m havin’ the time of me life; I am y’know Frank”
Rita – Pg 75
She says that her new friends make her feel young whereas previously when she was with Denny she had been made to feel as if twenty-six was old and that she had to settle down with a baby.
Also in this scene, Rita asks if they can go and sit outside but frank refuses, so Rita asks if she can open a window instead.
“”Y’need air in here frank. A room is like a plant.” Rita – Pg 75
This symbolizes Rita being a breath of fresh air into Frank’s life bringing him out of his cocoon where even he described himself as being trapped and restrained. This is evident as he has started writing poetry again.
Her new housemate Trisha has a huge impact on her. This is made clear in scene two.
“Rita: (talking in a peculiar voice) Hello, Frank
Frank: Hello, Rita. You're late.
Rita:I know, Frank. I'm terribly sorry. It was unavoidable.
Frank: (looking up) Was it really? What’s wrong with your voice?
Rita: Nothing, is wrong with it, Frank. I have merely decided to talk properly. As Trish says, there's not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature with an ugly voice.” – Pg 83
This shows how much Rita admires Trisha, or wishes to be a part of the higher class like Trisha, she went to such great lengths to be as much like her as possible by even changing her accent, almost a trademark to her character.
It is clear from the significant evidence that Rita’s character has changed dramatically throughout the play. From the start of the play when she was trapped in her narrow one-way life with Denny to the end of the play where she has been set free in life. As she takes her final steps towards self-discovery she realizes she has a new found independence; she is able to hold intelligent conversations confidently, she has become more open-minded, she now knows she no longer has to follow a set out life, she doesn’t have to reach expectations of others as long as she does what she wants. By the end of the play she has grown the ability to conquer insecurity and self-doubt and her low self-esteem has been buried by courage.
