Speaking of willingness to learn, it seems at the beginning of the play that Rita is hungry for knowledge. Frank asks Rita “why did you enrol in first place?”, after which Rita answers that she wants to “know everything”. This is later confirmed by a question induced as a result of the hunger she possesses, “What does assonance mean?”, followed by a further quote, “See I wanna discover meself first.”. The problem she is confronted with at the moment involves her husband, Denny, who is endeavouring to have some sort of influence over her in order for her to become the person she was before – the same person that didn’t want to better herself in the same way Rita does.
However, Rita realises that there is more to life for her than what she has actually achieved. She feels that people pretend that they have got it all when they haven’t and so, in order to help them forget that they haven’t, they often do things such as buy new dresses and that is what Rita did. However, she is resisting a new dress so that she can be reminded of the fact that she hasn’t got it all and that she is not going to get another one until she passes her “first exam”. Likewise, Rita feels there is no culture in her area as people tend to pretend they have it all when they actually don’t and so Rita feels that there is more to life than just pretending that you have everything.
And finally, from the beginning of the play, we also learn that Rita is naïve in numerous ways. The first indication of Rita’s inexperience is through the use of a quote from Frank: “Its’ the sort of poetry you can’t understand – unless you happen to have a detailed knowledge of the literary references.” Likewise, Rita seems to be “under the impression that all books are literature” and so Frank explains to her why that is not the case. Her lack of education is further shown in the beginning of the play when Rita says that she’s got a “lot to learn” and that she describes herself as “dead ignorant”.
As the play progresses and we get to the middle section of the play, Frank does not seem as if he has changed much in any way whatsoever. This, as a matter of fact, is evident from what Rita says in Act 2 Scene 2, “Just that I thought you’d started reforming yourself.” Frank’s response to that is that, if he is influenced by Rita, what does he do when his “influence is gone forever?” This shows that Frank has not really been influenced much by Rita and that he does not feel the need for change himself as he feels there is/wants no more to what he already has. A perfect example of him not reforming is when Rita asks him, “Are you still on this stuff?”, after which Frank admits to continue drinking: “...I need the drink to help me step delicately through it.”
What surprised me as I read through the Scene 5 was Frank’s attitude towards Julia. At the beginning of the play, we saw the many ways in which their relationship was not solid. Frank – later, rather ironically - states that Julia would be upset and jealous if Frank were to go to the theatre with Rita. He says that “it would be deaf and dumb breakfasts for a week.” This gives us the impression that Frank cares somewhat about Julia and doesn’t want to disappoint her or doesn’t want to lose another partner over such a matter. However, after his visit to France, Frank’s attitude to Julia changes as, on talking to Rita about his trip to France, Frank says “Julia left me”, in a “matter of fact tone” showing no emotion whatsoever.
An obvious change, though, in Frank’s character relates to how secure he actually is. While, at the beginning of the play, Frank felt secure, otherwise is suggested in many ways throughout the middle of the book. The first way his insecurity is shown, so to speak, is at the end of Act 1 Scene 8, whereby Frank says that he “doesn’t know if he wants” to teach her as he claims that what she currently possesses is rather “valuable”. Likewise, Frank dislikes the fact that she may have to abandon her uniqueness and he has to change her, simply because Frank likes the way Rita is at this moment in time more than the person she wants to be. This is evident from when Frank invites Rita to his house early in the middle of the play and Frank flatters Rita at the beginning. Frank uses many phrases to flatter Rita, most of which aren’t taken seriously by Rita: “Ah, but Rita, if I was yours would I stop out for days?”; “What I’d actually like to do is take you by the hand and run out of this room forever”; Rita – why didn’t you walk in here twenty years ago?”. The significance of these quotes is to show Frank’s attitude to Rita before she has undergone a change in herself. After her visit to summer school and London (the point at which Rita went through a major development in herself), Frank says nothing of the sort.
Influence is another thing that has a major impact on his attitude towards Rita and how secure he feels. At the beginning of the play, Frank is really the only one who has any influence on her whatsoever, with Denny having some but very little. However, near the end of the middle section, it becomes rather obvious that the number of people having influence on her apart from Frank has increased. After summer school, Rita begins sharing a flat with a friend called Trish. Rita admires Trish and wants to be very much like her, thus doing things such as changing her accent to the one Trish has. When confronted with the new accent, Frank is angry at the fact that she has changed her accent. After Frank tells Rita to “stop it”, Rita is persistent regardless and continues speaking in that manner. From this, Frank begins to see that Trish is having a major influence on her and so we make out that Frank starts perceiving Trish as a rival to him. The important thing here to note, though, is that Frank is clearly out of his comfort zone.
Likewise, when Rita begins her friendship with the students at the university, Frank seems rather bothered about the matter. Rita says that she has “only been talkin’ to them for five minutes and he’s inviting me to go abroad with them all.”, immediately after which Frank says that she “can’t go”. For the prevention of her going to France, Frank begins to make up excuses of how she can’t go because of her exams. Rita, however, resists this and so Frank alters his excuse to how she then can’t go because she’s got her “results to wait for...”. Moreover, Frank’s paranoia is shown through when he says, “Is there much point in working towards an examination if you’re going to fall in love and set off for the South of...”. The thing weird here is that Rita never mentioned anything about falling in love and, in actual fact, said nothing of the sort. Throughout the scene, his paranoia is also shown as he also tells her to stop “burbling on about Mr.Tyson”, when she hasn’t really been. The reason for him being uncomfortable and paranoid here is that Frank does not want Rita to go on the holiday with them and be further influenced by them as he, from what we have explored prior to this, doesn’t really like/enjoy teaching his other students.
Rita’s development is also clear through the middle part of the play, particularly as the middle draws to a close.
At the beginning of Act 1 Scene 5, we learn that Denny has burnt all of Rita’s books and has done so due to Rita’s change from how she was when he married her. Instead of trying for a baby, Rita wants to discover herself before doing so and that is precisely why Denny has acted in the way he did. However, instead of hindering her willingness to learn, Denny seems to be motivating her to do better and more in the course as Rita feels the need more to talk to Frank at the university as opposed to staying home and fighting with Denny.
This matter later yields an indication of a big change in Rita’s confidence and the importance of learning at the Open University. Earlier in the play – right at the beginning of the play – we learnt about Rita’s confidence in the play from when she was contemplating over “packing this course in”. Now however, in response to whether Rita wants to “abandon this course”, Rita says “No. No!” in a determined way. This shows how her confidence has increased over her time at the Open University and how she has also realised that bettering herself/being more educated is of more importance than anything else at the moment.
Rita’s determination to explore and see new things is also shown through the end of scene 5/beginning of scene 6. At the end of scene 5, we learn how enthusiastic Rita is to see a live play before; “Well come on – hurry up – I’m dead excited. I’ve never seen a live play before.” This enthusiasm is further shown at the beginning of scene 6, when she says: “I had to come an’ tell y’, Frank, last night, I went to the theatre! A proper one, a professional theatre.” Rita then goes on to say that she “had to tell someone who’d understand”. This shows that she is forced to tell Frank as opposed to someone else such as a “proper student” because she is still of working class and so her class difference to others such as the students is reflected here.
At the end of scene 6, Frank invites Rita to his house but we realise that Rita is confronted with a couple of problems. Firstly, it seems as if Rita is worried about the attendance of Denny and how he would react if he were to come: “Will you bring Denny?”; “(puzzled) All right.”, after which Rita says, “What shall I wear?”. The fact that Rita is unsure of what to wear shows that she feels she is of some difference – in terms of class - to Frank and his friends. Normally, someone who is of the same class or fits in with the person they are being invited by does not ask what kind of clothes they would be required to wear and so this supports my point of Rita’s class difference. Throughout the middle of the play, though, it becomes clear why Rita has been confronted with such problems. Upon just asking Denny if he wanted to visit Frank’s, Denny “went mad” and they “had a big fight about it”. In actual fact, it becomes apparent that even the least important of details matter a lot to Rita. In response to why Rita didn’t come, Rita also says that the wine was a factor in her attendance. When Frank says that he wouldn’t mind if she’d “walked in with a bottle of Spanish plonk”, Rita then says that “It was Spanish” and this is funny to some extent as what Frank deems to be rubbish wine is precisely what Rita had brought along.
Furthermore, it also seems in scene 7 that Rita’s character is another reason for her difference to Frank and his friends. After Frank expresses how Rita is – “someone who’s funny, delightful, charming...” – Rita replies by saying that she doesn’t want to “be charming and delightful.” Instead what is made out to be the ideal character for her is that of Frank and his friends: “I wanna talk seriously with the rest of you...”. As the scene progresses, Rita then tells Frank about how she visited the pub after the departure of his house. This is an important aspect to the play as Rita emphasises how she is stuck between two classes, whereby she cannot fit in either of them. Rita says that she “can’t talk to the likes of them on Saturday” because she “can’t learn their language”, after which she describes herself as a “half-caste.”
During her stay at the pub, we also learn of the influence Rita’s mum is having on her. Near the end of the scene, Rita elaborates on her visit to the pub and tells Frank that her mum began crying there, after which she explains it was due to the sole fact that she believed she could have sung “better songs than those.” Here, Rita’s mum is making a reference to life about how she could have done better and achieved more than she has already done. This is similar to the situation Rita is in and the significance of having her mum crying is to motivate Rita further to better herself, precisely what the bottom line reflects, “And that’s why I came back. And that’s why I’m staying.”
At the beginning of Act 2 Scene 1, we immediately realise that Rita has changed in some way or another; Rita “is dressed in new, second-hand clothes”. What is meant here is that the clothes are second–hand, but new to her in terms of class regardless. Another change we also see here relates to how Rita spent her time at both summer school and London. Rita says that her friends at summer school and herself “had a great time: dead late every night...” Similarly, Rita begins making friends with the students at the Open University later on throughout the play. This is evident from when Rita says, “For students they don’t half come out with some rubbish y’know” and when she says, “I’ve only been talkin’ to them for five minutes and he’s inviting me to go abroad with them all” – a clear indication of the friendship she has with them. When this is put in comparison with her attitude prior to her friendship with the students at the university, it is obvious of her change as she can now be considered someone of middle class.
A further change in Rita we begin to see associates with how open she is towards other people. If we cast our minds back to the beginning of the play, we saw how extrovert Rita was in terms of expressing her true feelings about the picture in Frank’s room. However, in the middle of the play, we see an instance indicating otherwise. While at summer school, Rita is confronted with a tutor who asks her a question involving an author. In response, Rita feels the need to answer in a similar way to how she told Frank about his picture at the start of the play, “It was right on the tip of me tongue to say, ‘Only when it’s served with Parmesan cheese’.” However, she composes herself and instead responds to the question in a more appropriate way: “Actually, I’m not too familiar with the American poets.” As opposed to the person Rita was before, this aspect to the play shows how she has become less brash.
Not only does Rita’s character change in terms of how open she is, though, it also changes in terms of how secure she is. After her visit to both summer school and London, how much more secure she is seems pretty evident. In fact, a perfect example of how she is becoming increasingly secure is when Rita says, “I’m havin’ the time of me life; I am y’know....I feel young, you know like them down there.” From what we have seen so far then, Frank has become insecure while Rita has become secure. Therefore, it can be said that Willy Russell manages to keep our interest despite the fact that there are only 2 characters through changing our expectations of them.
A further reflection of a change in Rita is made through how educated she becomes. At the beginning of the play, Rita’s response to a question about Peer Gynt is: “Do it on the radio.” Here she does not realise that expressing opinions do not exactly pass exams. However, as the play progresses – particularly after summer school – we begin to see how much Rita has developed educationally. In comparison to Rita’s misconception of what is deemed right in exams, at the end of Act 2 Scene 2, Frank says that Rita’s essay “wouldn’t look out of place with” the other students’ and so Rita has therefore begun to realise that passing the exams are of more importance than opinions. Another indication of Rita’s development in this aspect is when Rita recites precisely a poem she learnt at summer school from memory.
Finally, at the beginning of Act Scene 2, we learn of the influence Rita is experiencing from her fellow flat mate: Trish. Prior to this scene, Rita describes Trish as “great”; “dead classy” and someone who has “just got it” all. From this, we see just how much Rita admires her alongside how Rita perceives her to be an idol. This then “rubs off” on Rita later on throughout the scene, so to speak, when she begins talking in a voice similar to that of Trish. Rita says she has “merely decided to talk properly. As Trish says there is not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice.”
Ultimately, we learn about how Frank is at the end of the play and how he has changed from being the person he was earlier on.
At the beginning of Act 2 Scene 3, we are immediately made aware that Frank “is very drunk”. This is then reinforced from how he begins swearing, after which he refers to his students as “mealy mouthed pricks”. The state is he is currently in at this point in time is also reflected from how Frank describes the lecture he had just given as “the best lecture” he’d ever given. We know this is know true as we are later told that he “had fallen of the rostrum” - something that would not occur in a good lecture to say the least.
Further evidence of a change in Frank involves his attitude towards Rita. At the beginning of the play, we saw how Frank really liked Rita for who she was and the fact that she was “a breath of fresh air” meant that she somewhat differed to the other students in the university. Later on though, we begin to see how insecure Frank becomes to a change in Rita’s class. As she strays more towards the middle class – by befriending the students at the university – Frank seems bothered as Rita has experienced a change that has totally changed things. Instead of Frank flattering Rita like he did at the beginning, he now seems more hostile towards her. Although his insecurity has already been revealed during the middle of the play, there are yet more ways at the end in which it is portrayed.
After Rita begins talking about her essay on Blake, Frank states his view on how the essay is “not wrong” but he “doesn’t like it.” Frank then goes on to say how there is nothing of her in there and this is a reflection of why he doesn’t like her essay. In actual fact, it seems here that Frank prefers her essays when she stated her opinions to how she is currently forced not to do so (as much) due to the exam requirements. During Act 2 Scene 4, Frank is also made out bothered during a conversation regarding work places. When Rita talks about her change in work place, Frank then goes on to ask, “Is Mr.Tyson one of your customers?”, after which he says, “Perhaps – perhaps you don’t want to waste your time coming here anymore?”. Yet again, Frank is saying something that is not of any relevance to Rita’s words; Rita never mentioned anything such as working at the bistro full time – she has just said that she likes “to be with them”. Therefore, it can be said that Frank still seems bothered and somewhat insecure about Rita’s change in herself. In fact, Frank’s so disappointed with how Rita has changed that he refers to himself “Mary Shelley”, writer of Frankenstein. Since he believes he has had the most influence over Rita, he is making a reference of himself here to Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who created weird creatures in the novel.
However, despite Frank’s increasing insecurity throughout both the middle and end of the play – just as the play is to be brought to a halt – this insecurity is somehow eradicated. Instead of reacting in a hostile manner towards Rita in response to her statements about the students etc..., Frank reacts in a way similar to how he did at the beginning of the play. When Rita says, “Tiger’s asked me to go down to France with his mob”, Frank says, “Will you?” as opposed to something of a more hostile nature. Whether it is because of his visit to Australia in the near future or just a change of heart, the bottom line is that Frank has now accepted Rita’s change. After Rita talks about her options to Frank, Frank reveals “a package hidden behind some of the books.” This is somewhat humorous as it is usually his alcohol that is stashed away there. Nevertheless, Frank takes down the package and says, “...it’s a dress really. I bought it some time ago – for erm – for an educated woman friend of mine.” The important aspect to this quote of Frank’s relates to how he “bought it...for an educated woman friend”. The fact that the dress is for an “educated woman” reflects how Frank has realised/knows that Rita has become more educated through her stay at the Open University, as he chose not to give it to Rita nearer the beginning or throughout the middle of the play. In addition, giving her the dress is also further evidence that consolidates his acceptance of her change in both class and in terms of being educated.
At the end of the play, we also learn of further changes Rita has undergone in comparison to earlier parts of the play.
The first indication of a change in Rita happens immediately in Act 2 Scene 3, whereby “Rita is sitting in the armchair by the window” and “Frank enters.” This is ironic as it is usually Frank who is earliest but Rita has arrived earlier and we discover that wants to get “here early today” so that she can start “talking to some students down on the lawn”. This is an obvious change in her as we see how Rita has become highly influenced by the students and has become more of a middle class citizen than a working class one.
We also get the impression that Rita feels she is now of middle class and has learnt pretty much all there is need to know. Quotes such as “don’t keep treatin’ me as though I’m the same as when I first walked in here” and “I can do without you” reflect how she is able to lead her life without any more knowledge required. However, it is not only Rita that feels she has become more educated; her change in terms of education and class is pretty evident to us as the audience. In Act 2 Scene 3 – after Frank says that her essay is “not wrong. But I don’t like it” – Rita says, “You’re being subjective”, precisely what was said by Frank at the beginning and so reflects how Rita has become more educated in terms of language. A further reflection of Rita’s improvement in education is seen in scene 5, after Rita comments on Frank’s poems. Rita says that if she had seen those poems when she first came in, she “wouldn’t have understood it” and that she “would have thrown it across the room and dismissed it as a heap of shit.” This short aspect to the play is extremely helpful in understanding Rita’s change in education as an example is used here that indicates how Rita would have reacted to the same situation at the beginning of the play. What’s more, Rita describes Rubyfruit Jungle as “hardly excellence” at the end of the play. This is a big difference to how she perceived it at the beginning of the play and so it shows of how educated she has become.
We also learn throughout the end of the play that Trish, Rita’s flatmate, “tried to top herself”. Earlier in the play, we saw how Rita described Trish as someone who “has just got it all”. However, the fact that Trish doesn’t see things that way changes Rita’s perspective of life and the meaning of the word “everything”. Rita now realises that there is more to life than what Trish has and that everything has a deeper meaning than what she previously regarded it to be.
A further extremely important aspect to Rita’s change is shown right at the end of the play, whereby Rita considers her options in the near future. She says, “I dunno. I might go to France. I might go to me mother’s. I might even have a baby. I dunno. I’ll make a decision, I’ll choose. I dunno”. This shows us how Rita now has more choice and better options in choosing what she will do. At the beginning, we saw how determined she was to do the course and so that was pretty much her only option at the time (considering that she wanted to do the course far more than have a baby). Now, however, having accomplished her target(s), she now has much more of a choice in doing what she wishes.
Finally, as the play draws to a conclusion, there is also some humour involved. After Rita says, “All I’ve ever done is take from you I’ve never given you anything”, Frank says, “That’s not true you’ve...”. Before letting Frank finish his sentence, Rita intervenes and says, “...But there is. Come here, Frank...” From this, what immediately comes to mind is something of sexual nature. However, instead, we discover that Rita is giving him a haircut and so this is comical as Willy Russell changes our expectations of what is going to happen so dramatically.
In conclusion, I feel that Rita has certainly changed for the better due to a number of reasons. The fact that Rita has become more educated while also changing her class is, without a doubt, development. In addition, it has also become apparent now that Rita has more choice in comparison with before. What’s more, Rita also has better choice which is vital as that is what Rita aimed for, to some extent. Despite the fact that she has become less open and more serious over time at the Open University, Rita’s objective of bettering herself has truly been accomplished.
While Rita’s development throughout the play is evident, Frank’s seems to be somewhat “half-way there”, so to speak. At the beginning of the play, we saw how Frank was rather motivated to come to work as a result of Rita as he regarded her as “a breath of fresh air”. However, during the middle/and of the play, we also saw how Frank began drinking more as a result of how insecure he felt. To counter-argue this point though, it can also be said that Frank is portrayed as being less secure right at the end and that Frank now has a better choice in what he can do. Before, we saw how Frank needed to go to work in order to pay for his drink. Now however, he has the choice in whether he wishes to go to Australia or even commit suicide. The fact that he seems happy about going to Australia may also result in a further change in him such as an end to all his drinking. Although it seems unlikely, Frank now has a better reason to enjoy life.
