“What do you mean am I determined to go to the pub? I don’t need determination to get me into a pub…”
I have used this quotation because it’s something a typical man would say to his wife or girlfriend.
In act 1, scene 1, a conversation takes place between Frank and Rita within the first 15 minutes of encountering each other. They are discussing an erotic painting that Frank has hanging on his wall. I found this conversation quite amusing as it was something you wouldn’t expect a woman to say. I found the most amusing part, when Rita said,
“Look at those tits! Is it supposed to be erotic? I mean when he painted it do y’ think he wanted to turn people on?”
This quotations say’s a lot about Rita. One thing I noticed was that even though she is common at heart, she still tries hard to think beyond the erotic painting. This shows she’s doing her best to understand things in an intellectual nature. A good point with Rita is that she says what she thinks and doesn’t hold back.
Humour isn’t just created by telling a joke, or meaning to make someone laugh. It’s also often done by making a mistake by either misinterpretation or ignorance. One section of scene 1 shows this case of humorous misunderstandings.
The error that occurs in this particular moment is when Frank tries to explain the meaning of assonance, and because he has trouble clarifying it; he tries to make use of an example of a Poet. The problem with this was that Rita didn’t have any comprehension of the poet.
“No. Erm – Assonance. Well, it’s a form of rhyme. What’s a – what’s an example – erm -? Do you know Yeats?”
“The wine lodge?”
“Yeat’s the poet.”
“No.”
Her mistake was diminutive and insignificant, but still noticeable.
Act 1, scene 6 is my other chosen scene. I chose this scene because although it’s one of the shortest scenes, it still contains humorous episodes. A discussion takes place between Frank and Rita as they talk about the meaning and differences with the words ‘tragedy’ and ‘tragic’ Frank gave one example for each word. I don’t find the examples incredibly funny, but I do, however, find Rita’s reply to his second example quite amusing.
“Rita, a woman’s hair being reduced to an inch of stubble, or – or the sort of thing you read in the paper that’s reported as being tragic, ‘Man Killed By Falling Tree’, is not a tragedy.”
This wasn’t what I found comical, but Rita’s response to the ‘Falling Tree’ example was.
“It is for the poor sod under the tree.”
This isn’t only funny; it’s also a very predictable reaction Rita’s character would have had. This is an answer expected from her.
The last sample of humour I will give is found in the closing stages of scene 6. Frank is inviting Rita out to lunch, but the offer triggers Rita’s memory, as she has left one of her customers in the Salon with chemicals on her which can cause unfortunate results.
“Christ– me customer. She only wanted a demi-wave – she’ll come out looking like a friggin’ Muppet.”
I found this downright amusing. I think this is because of the context used. Her use of speech is once again very ‘common’, with the words she uses, like friggin’ and Muppet.
Willy Russell has created these characters in a very clever way. The way he thought about the use of language for both characters was imaginative, and he has stressed it to the maximum effect.
In conclusion, I have found this play to have a different use of humour in each particular part, but yet it has been used in knowledgably and realistic way. His play is one that you can actually use your imagination to know and see the characters, and that’s what I find to be the most important thing for any play, especially for Educating Rita.
