Educating Rita

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Educating Rita

In what ways does Rita, in 'Educating Rita' change during the play?

Rita is a working-class, twenty-six-year old hairdresser who has taken the decisive steps of enrolling on a literature course at an Open University. It has been a difficult decision as it means that she has to break away from the restrictions imposed on her by her husband and by the community in which she lives and works. Indeed, Rita's choice is a stark one: it is between starting a family, which Denny wants, or studying.

The play starts off with Frank alone on stage, talking on the phone to his wife, telling her that a woman is coming to see him and that he is going to be late for dinner. This makes theatre viewers wonder what Rita may be like. They might expect her to be very nervous, shy and not to speak a lot. But they get a shock of their lives: she burst through the door and turns out to be very loud and gives the impression of being confident. Theatre viewers are shocked by her dramatic entrance and by her first words: "I'm comin' in, aren't I? It's that stupid bleedin' door handle on the door. You wanna get it fixed!" Immediately she gives the impression of someone very common, from a poor background and not very well educated. Her loudness and outrageous remarks like: "Look at those tits." is her attempt to cover her lack of confidence in unfamiliar surroundings. When she went to go open the door she found it very hard to do. This symbolises an invisible wall that she has to get over if she wants to fulfil her dreams of having a proper education. In Act 2 of the play Rita bursts though the door as if she is a different person. This shows that she is now more confident and isn't afraid to learn new things, it is like she is reborn. In the beginning, when she is talking with Frank, she doesn't talk about her educational ambitions; instead she talks about something else, mostly in forms of a question such as "I love this room. I love that window. Do you like it?" Frank and Rita find it difficult to relate to each other due to huge difference in background and education, for example when Rita asks: "What does assonance mean?" Frank has to explain what it means. In Act 2 of the play, when 'new' Rita comes in to Franks office, Rita is able to relate to what Frank is saying and is taking over the conversion by what she knows about the subject Frank brought up about 'William Blake'. This makes Frank feel like he has lost the old Rita that first came into his office.
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There are many themes during the play- change is probably the most important as it shows how an individual can develop and learn in both positive and negative ways: the play indicates the protagonist changing from one extreme to the other, eventually discovering a happy balance in between.

Rita, at the start, is a very bold character, reflected in her unsophisticated and flamboyant choice of clothing, and is dissatisfied with her life. Throughout the play she changes, losing her individuality and flare, wanting to become the same as all the other students around her. She even copies ...

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