Examine Frank's growing sense of unease as Rita becomes more educated

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Alex Thorne – 11Y2 – Mr Lockley – English Coursework

Examine Franks growing sense of unease as Rita becomes more educated

Educating Rita is a moving account of a young woman’s determination to change her life. It brings together two very different people who help each other through a tough stage of their lives. Rita is a young hairdresser who wants to find herself; Frank is a depressed university lecturer with a drink problem. They both are unhappy with the way their lives are heading and can help each other change that.

 In the early scenes of the play Frank is in control of Rita, this is because she feels inferior when she goes to see Frank. She feels that she is not as clever and as well educated as Frank, also Frank is her teacher and he has the same control as he would with the same students.

FRANK: Do you know Yeats?

RITA:  The Wine Lodge?

FRANK: Yeats the poet

RITA: No

I think there is a good part at the start that shows a difference in language between them. When Frank is trying to find out Rita’s name and he says  “You are?” and Rita not understanding what he meant replies with “What am I?” This is a good example of the way they talk, Frank asks her name and she thinks that he is calling her something. When Rita does not understand what Frank is talking about she changes the subject quickly to something she can talk about. The play is set in a naturalistic setting, Frank’s office. You never see Frank outside of his office; this shows to the audience that Frank is quite plain and simple. It shows he is a man who doesn’t go out much and have much of a social life. This is quite significant in showing that Frank’s life is based around his office and he seems to be stuck in there.

RITA: I’m comin’ in aren’t I? It’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door

 This is a good quote to use because it shows that Franks room is quite old and not very well looked after.

When Rita first enters Frank’s room you can tell that they come from totally different backgrounds. Rita uses a lot of colloquial language while Frank talks in proper English. When Rita first starts talking the audience gets the impression that she is not the cleverest of people. The other main difference between them is there Cultures; Rita comes from a working class family where she did not get a very good education, while Frank on the other hand comes from an upper class family where he had a good education.

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 RITA :I hate smokin’ on me own. An’ everyone seems to have packed up these days. They’re all afraid of gettin’ cancer.

 I think this is an example of historical context because when the book was written was the time when people first found out about smoking causing cancer, so everyone stopped smoking. Nowadays, everyone knows about all of the dangers and they still smoke. Also, a tutor who drinks whilst he is at work would have been found out very quickly and would definitely been sacked, but in the play his drinking problem does not cause a ...

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