During the first scene Rita is dependant on Frank completely, she needs him to educate her, ‘I’ve not half got a lot to learn.’ and therefore is totally dependant upon him. This changes as the play progresses, and Rita becomes less reliant on Frank, and Frank becomes more reliant on Rita. This continues right up until the final act where Rita no longer relies upon Frank, but Frank is completely reliant on Rita. Frank seems a very lonely person, and he becomes even more lonely when he meets Rita, she seems the only person he really talks to, especially since he lost his wife, ‘A very noble woman my wife. She left me for the good of literature.’
Frank really starts to depend on Rita, and perhaps falls in love with her, when Rita’s boyfriend Danny, leaves her. Danny is jealous of the relationship between Frank and Rita, and is perhaps also jealous because Rita is becoming educated, a rare thing in the time the play was written. This is showing Rita’s dramatic change, as she goes from working class to upper class, she pushes away the people closest to her, not only her boyfriend but also her best friend Denny. Towards the end of the play, Frank begins to show his feelings about Rita more clearly, by inviting her out for dinner.
This is the act in which the change in character really takes place; Rita becomes much less reliant on Frank, whereas Frank becomes totally dependant on Rita. Frank becomes an alcoholic; such is his obsession for Rita, and he becomes jealous because she makes new friends, and no longer needs him to teach her. Rita becomes a fully educated woman, and talks and acts completely differently, she is a completely different woman, and Frank doesn’t like what she has become, she has lost her values.
The reader notices this change immediately as the second act begins, as Rita beings to care less about turning up to her lessons with Frank. She turns up late one day, ‘No - honestly, Frank - I've wasted your time. I'll see y' next week, eh?’ she grows further away of Frank, this climaxes when she forgets to tell Frank about her new flatmate Trish. Rita no longer needs Frank; she doesn’t need any further education, and therefore doesn’t need Frank, ‘I've got a room full of books. I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what paper and books to read. I can do without you.’ Frank however, relies on Rita more than ever, and completely depends on her, Rita has changed her personality but Frank is still completely devoted to her and loves her deeply. This is a complete role reversal from the beginning of the play, and the reader almost pities Frank by the end of the second act.
I believe that by becoming educated, Rita has done what she has always dreamed of doing, she has become and educated woman who is respected by society, but she has also lost some of the values that made her who she was. She has become careless and completely selfish, and ungrateful to all that Frank has done for her. She uses Frank to educate her, and seems to have no real feelings towards Frank, and once she has been educated, she no longer wants Frank in her life. Frank cannot accept this, and turns to alcohol as a solution to his problems. Rita has become a higher-class citizen, and because of this has lost everyone close to her. She is now educated, but it has completely changed her life, she has lost her values, and the education has come at a great price.
