Rita- ‘I went into the pub an’ they were singin’, all of them singin’ some song they’d learnt from the jukebox. An’ I stood in the pub an’ thought, just what the frig am I trying to do? Why don’t I just pack it in an’ stay with them an’ join the singin’?’
Frank- ‘And why don’t you?’
In earlier parts of the play, Frank would probably have meant this literally but as he has come to care for Rita, he is in a sense challenging her to achieve what she wants to become.
Rita feels the need to change herself because she is not happy as who she is and doing the things she does. She cannot go out and go to the theatre as there is nobody else who would accept this as a social event. Instead she goes to the pub and sings songs with the rest of her family and friends, but in this sense she wants to sing a new song, and wants to lead a new life of an educated and ‘free’ person:
‘ I said ‘why are y’ cryin’ mother? She said, ‘Because-because we could sing better songs than those. Ten minutes later, Denny had her laughing and singing again, pretending she hadn’t said it. But she had. And that’s why I came back. And that’s why I’m staying.’
This is one of the most powerful quotes in the whole play and sums up Rita’s determination to change herself. She sees how her mother feels the same way as she does and perhaps feels that by doing the course and becoming educated, she will make her mother proud and have a life her children would like to live.
Act 2 Scene 3
This scene shows how the two character’s lives resemble that of a pulley or seesaw. As one goes up, the other comes down. Rita’s life is becoming better as she is becoming the educated woman she strives to be, leaving behind the life she has led for so long. However, Frank’s life has slowly deteriorated over many years but increases as he sees Rita is less dependent on him and almost becomes desperate for her to stay:
‘No-no-you must stay-erm…Watch this-sober? (He takes a huge breath and pulls himself together) Sober! Come on…’
Frank is clearly in no state to take his tutorial with Rita but feels the need to attempt it, despite the fact the advice he offers is only pessimistic in Rita’s opinion.
This scene becomes the basis of the friendship of the two eventually falling apart as Rita is frustrated with Frank due to his lack of support and encouragement for her, while Frank feels Rita no longer has her own views and only goes upon what others have implemented in her mind. Rita reacts angrily to this when Frank says it to her:
‘What d’ y’ mean be careful? I can look after myself. Just cos im learnin’, just cos I can do it now an’ understand without havin’ to come runnin’ to you every five minutes y’ telling me to be careful’
Rita has reacted angrily because she feels she has no need to be careful. Frank feels that she no longer has a mind of her own and is influenced tremendously by her flat mate and other friends, while Rita feels she does not need Frank’s guidance as much if at all any more. This is because she now thins she is a new person, on the brink of achieving what she set out to do when she started the course. She is annoyed by the fact Frank thinks she has achieved little. Also she in a certain sense feels that she is above Frank in her evaluation of Rubyfruit Jungle. While he feels it is excellent, Rita takes a different view:
‘Oh go way, Frank. Of its type it’s quite interesting. But it’s hardly excellence.’
Act 2 Scene 5
This is most probably the most powerful scene in the play. As the turbulent relationship between Frank and Rita is becoming more volatile, as shown in previous scenes, they have an argument. Frank cannot handle Rita’s transition into a culture he hates but yet cannot escape. Rita feels she is now educated as she has the choices she wanted and knowledge of literature. Frank thinks though, that he has in a sense created a monster:
‘You know, Rita I think-I think that like you I shall change my name; from now on I shall insist being known as Mary, Mary Shelly- do you understand that allusion?’
Mary Shelly was the author of the book ‘Frankenstein’ and in this particular instance, Frank thinks he assumed the role of Doctor Frankenstein. He feels he has changed her, whereas in truth she has changed herself. Frank cannot accept Rita for what she has changed into. It is perhaps though that Rita has not distinguished the line between knowledge and education.
Rita all along feels that her education would directly result in the choices in life she can make. She now thinks that one of those choices is Frank and whether he can offer her what she wants:
Rita-‘I’ve got a room full of books, I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what play to see, what papers and books to read. I can do without you.’
Frank- Is that all you wanted? Have you come all this way for so very, very little?’
The choices she wants are now available to her in every aspect of life, this is why she feels she is educated. Frank on the other hand thinks that Rita has achieved very little and that she has little to choose from. He does not realise that the choices Rita values so highly are the same ones he has but Frank takes them for granted, much like in the earlier parts of the play in which Rita shows Frank the parts of his room he no longer notices or values.
Conclusion
There are more than just three scenes in this play that are powerful, some in different respects. This play carries the themes of social and education depravation throughout, whilst also showing the side of society we take for granted- choice. Rita has to battle to become part of the society Frank is in, while he is born into it and does not realise, until Rita shows him, the difficulty of the working classes. In this respect, it not only Rita who is educated, but also Frank. Much like the literary examples used in the play, ‘Educating Rita’ has much more to it than first assumed.
