Discuss the themes of social class and education in Educating Rita.

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Stuart Milne                                                                                        

Discuss the themes of social class and education in Educating Rita

In this essay I will explore the themes of social class and education in Willy Russell’s play ‘Educating Rita’.

Educating Rita is a play about a 26-year-old woman, Rita, and her desire to discover herself and change her social class status through education. Russell contrasts the character of Rita with her tutor, Frank who is educated but bored of his life.

At the beginning of the play, Russell portrays Rita as a stereotypical working class woman. She values her job as a hairdresser and enjoys singing songs at the local pub with her family. Even with these values in life, Rita becomes disillusioned by being in a lowbrow social class, and craves to improve her standing in society. Rita, through education believes she can change herself on the inside in much the same way as her clients change their outward appearance with a haircut. She imagines that the way to achieve this goal is through education and therefore she decides to begin an Open University course.

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Rita feels her life has to date served no purpose and as a result of this she is desperate to discover herself through literature. In the social class Rita is currently enmeshed in, buying a new dress or getting a new haircut are the greatest values to aspire to. Once educated, Rita hopes to experience a better perspective of the world’s values, appreciating ballet and opera like the higher classes.

When Rita first embarks upon her course she is in awe of the educated students. She thinks they have everything she has ever wanted and looks up to them. ...

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