At the beginning of ‘Educating Rita,’ we see Rita as a very forthcoming and lively person. This is evident as the first time that she actually meets her tutor, Frank; she is extremely open and talkative with him. “Well that’s no good always meanin to, is it? Y’ should get on with it; one of these days you’ll be shoutin’ ‘come in’ an’ it’ll go on forever because the poor sod on the other side won’t be able to get in. An’ you won’t be able to get out.” This quotation shows us that Rita is incredibly friendly and is not at all shy. She is not embarrassed to speak her mind. This is the first impression that the reader has of Rita.
Although we see that Rita is open and forward, we also learn that she is uneducated and doesn’t believe that she is very clever. “All right. It’ll probably have a job findin’ my brain.” This shows that she has no self-belief and her confidence in her educational ability is exceedingly low. On the other hand, she must enjoy reading as she tells Frank how she changed her name from Susan, to Rita. Naming her self after Rita Mae Brown who wrote ‘Ruby Fruit Jungle.’
Even though Rita is clearly uneducated, she obviously wants to learn and better herself and get a good education even though she doesn’t have to. “I was dead surprised when they took me. I don’t suppose they would have done if it’d been a proper university. The Open University’s different though, isn’t it?”
During the first part of the play, Rita wears a lot of make-up. This shows us, the readers, that she is uncomfortable and needs to wear it to prove herself and make her feel more confident about herself. She also dresses quite commonly which shows that she comes from a working class background. She wears a white blouse and a pink mini skirt, along with having red streaks in her hair, which makes her stand out and look individual.
To sum Rita up at the beginning of the play, she is exceptionally charismatic and carefree. She is very forward and swears a lot, which also shows that she has had a working class upbringing. She comes from being a typical hairdresser to wanting to get an education so that she can set her goals for the future to better herself and get a better quality of life. She feels the need to undergo a personal journey to obtain an education.
At the beginning of the play, Frank’s confidence level is somewhat a medium. He is a university tutor who has been assigned Rita as his first Open University pupil. We immediately see that Frank is an academic due to the way that he speaks and the things that he says. “Oh. Well-There’s a poem, called ‘The Wild Swans at Coole.’ In it, he rhymes the word ‘swan’ with the word ‘stone.’ There, you see an example of assonance.” This quotation shows that he is well educated with a rupture of English knowledge.
We also see that Frank is quite quiet and unsure about himself as he seems to have a less dominant part of the conversation. “Erm-probably.” is an example of this.
The audience sympathises Frank at the start of the play, as he is obviously depressed due to the amount of alcohol that he consumes. As he has bottles of alcohol his in his office and his girlfriend tells him not to stay long at the pub when she talks to him on the phone, it leads the audience to believe that he is an alcoholic.
Frank also appears to be depressed and lonely during the first half of the play. His relationship seems to be failing and he never appears to be very happier or cheerful. He seems to be incomplete and his life has something missing. He is set in his ways and his life doesn’t have much excitement. Frank obviously does not like his teaching job due to the lectures he turns up drunk to, and by himself stating that he is a boring teacher for his boring students. This demonstrates that although Frank is an academic
(everything Rita aspires to,) he is unfulfilled and lacking self-esteem.
By the end of the play, both Rita and Frank undergo what they consider a positive change and transform into better, more confident, happier people.
At the end of the play, Rita has transformed into a more sophisticated woman. She speaks politely and is less chatty. Rita has finally fulfilled her dream of becoming educated and is a lot happier. “I came to tell you you’re a good teacher. Thanks for enterin’ me for the exam.” She has changed from a common working class girl to an educated and respected woman of society. She learns that although education helps you go far in life, there are more important factors that make a person who they are.
All of the goals that she originally set out to reach have been reached. “All I’ve ever done is take from you I’ve never given anything.” This shows that with the help of Frank, she has transformed herself into a person that she is more comfortable with.
“Tiger’s asked me to go down to France with his mob.” This shows that Rita, after becoming educated has made some very good friends and is beginning to mix well with a higher clientele.
Rita’s appearance changes dramatically by the end of the play. She has long, blonde hair and wears a much more mature dress code and more casual clothes. As she wears no make up, it shows us that she is much more confident with herself and doesn’t have to hide behind anything or prove herself. This is a total opposite compared to the first impression that we get of her.
One of the main things that Rita was determined to do, was to climb the social ladder and create a better lifestyle for herself. It unquestionably shows that she has managed to do this by her appearance and personality. The people with whom she mixes along with the places she goes i.e. swapping pubs with wine bars shows that her quality of life has altered. As she decides to change her name of Rita back to her original name of Susan, it shows that she herself believes that she has come up in the world.
At the start of the play, we immediately realise that although being confident on the outside, the inside confidence of Rita was the total opposite. During the play, her confidence level increases dramatically due to the change in her lifestyle. It gets to a stage about three quarters of the way through the play that she gets slightly overconfident. I know this, as she is far too forward in the way she addresses Frank and almost looks down at him. It isn’t until her flatmate takes a drug overdose that her confidence drops and begins to level off. By the very end of the play, she has reached a good confidence level and faces the world face on knowing that she is better than anyone else but nobody is better than her.
By the end of the play, Frank has definitely transformed for the better. He is a lot more cheerful and confident. The quotation “You know – erm – I hear very good things about Australia. Things are just beginning there. The thing is, why don’t you –come as well? It’d be good for us to leave a place that’s just finishing for a place that’s just beginning,” shows us, the reader that Frank is now much happier and surely more positive about himself. We know this as he has a lot larger input into the conversation and has the confidence to ask Rita to go with him.
As Frank has decided to move to Australia, it shows that he has had enough of his life in England and wants to start somewhere different, for a new life.
Frank, as a whole, doesn’t seem as depressed as earlier on in the play. As he drinks a lot less, it shows that he no longer has to turn to drink to drown all of his sorrows.
“It’s erm – well, it’s er – it’s a dress really. I bought it some time ago – for – erm – for an educated woman friend – of mine.” This shows us that Frank is a lot more familiar with Rita as he is giving her a present and is talking informally to her.
Frank is certainly dealing with his incompleteness, as it shows in his personality and due to him appearing happier and friendlier towards Rita.
Although Frank is pleased that his student, Rita has transformed from an ordinary, working class girl to an educated, respected woman, he is also slightly upset that she has somehow managed to lose her uniqueness and character, which made her what she was. Its almost like her whole personality has changed even down to the way that she speaks.
During the play, Frank’s confidence drops from being fairly neutral to being very low indeed. He can no longer rely on alcohol halfway through the play and even ends up ripping up his poetry that he wrote years before, as he had no self-belief. Rita helps to encourage Frank and make his confidence grow. It eventually increases but never to the same point as Rita’s. I believe that Frank has had enough of his life and all he wants to do is start afresh somewhere new.
To conclude, both of the characters of Rita and Frank have certainly undergone a radical change in ‘Educating Rita.’ As the writer of the play, Willy Russell, came from a working class background, he tried to portray his life through the character of Rita. What he was trying to put across is that everyone in this world can succeed as long as they put there minds to it and give it their all. Both of the characters in this play definitely play an important role in helping the other to transform into something that they wanted to become. The main thing that I believe helped them to reach their goals was determination. If people give up, nothing will be achieved. Yet as they stuck at it and didn’t wallow in self-pity, they managed to transform themselves. Rita showed a lot of courage by doing what she did. It helps to show people that anything is possible if you have the confidence to believe in yourself.
