I plan to show how the phrase better song to sing illustrates the central themes of educating Rita which are the differences between working class and middle-class society.

JULIE WILCOX

ENGLISH LITERATURE

FOUND A BETTER SONG TO SING HAVE YOU RITA? NO – YOU’VE FOUND A DIFFERENT SONG THAT’S ALL (ACT 2 SCENE 5)

HOW DOES THIS ILLUSTRATE THE CENTRAL THEMES OF EDUCATING RITA?

In this essay I plan to show how the phrase better song to sing illustrates the central themes of educating Rita which are the differences between working class and middle-class society, the importance of education and the difficulty experienced by the working classes in their pursuit of education. The play also shows sympathy for the struggles of the feminist movement.

The two characters in the play are Rita, a 26-year-old hairdresser from a working class background and Frank, who is older than Rita and a middle class university lecturer. Also mentioned although not actually appearing in the play are Denny, Rita's husband, Julia, Frank’s partner and Trish, who later in the play becomes Rita’s flatmate.

It could be said that Russell uses Rita to describe his early self. He came from a working class background and at school developed a love of books although he didn’t get much of an education. After leaving school he became a ladies hairdresser and even went on to own his own salon but this wasn’t what he wanted out of life. Russell continued hairdressing and then went on to work at Fords cleaning girders in order to raise the money needed to go to college and fulfil his dreams of becoming a writer. One might say that Frank represents the older, educated Russell, Frank is a university lecturer as is Russell. Frank’s ambition was to become a writer, Russell shared this ambition but he succeeded where Frank failed.

When we first meet the characters Frank is on the phone to Julia, while Rita is having trouble opening the door to his office. This could be symbolic of the battle that Rita would have entering education. Once through the door Rita is brash and comes across as totally sure of herself, she immediately takes control of the situation. She comments on a painting on the wall, but the language she uses makes one wonder is this the real Rita or is she out to shock. (“There's no suppose about it. Look at those tits”) Rita is testing the water she wants to know if she can get along with Frank. Later on in the scene she tells Frank that if she had got another tutor who objected to swearing she wouldn’t have stayed. This goes to reinforce the idea that Rita’s initial behaviour is down to her own insecurities, in fact throughout the play Rita doesn’t believe that she is good enough, she refers to other students as “real students”.

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Rita comes from a working class background, where there are very few opportunities for women. Women are expected to marry young and have babies but like Russell, Rita has a thirst for knowledge. When we first meet Rita she has come to a crossroads in her life her husband, family and everyone around her are wondering why she hasn’t had a baby yet. in act one scene one when Rita first meets Frank she discusses this with him. (“See, I don’t wanna baby yet. See, I wanna discover meself first. Do you understand that?) This is where a feminist theme is first introduced to the play. Rita feels that society is pressurising her into doing something she is not ready for. Although she has grown up with the expectation that she would marry and raise a family she is fighting against her working class roots, she wants something more. Without being able to explain why properly Rita feels that the only way out is through education she feels that with an education she gains the power of choice. Rita is searching for a better song to sing.

At the beginning of the play Frank comes across as jaded, in his phone conversation with Julia we find that he has a drink problem and that he is less than enthusiastic about teaching and in particular teaching an Open University student. At first he doesn't know quite what to make of Rita, one gets the impression he has never met anyone like her before (“do you know I think you’re the first breath of air that’s been in this room for years”). He can’t understand Rita’s need to learn, he sees her as happy-go-lucky and doesn’t want her to change. Frank is worried about educating Rita because he realises that education doesn’t hold all the answers. He realises that Rita is looking for a better way of life or song to sing but he cannot guarantee that for her, he knows she will find a different song to sing but it may not hold all the answers for her. He sees Rita as innocent and would like her to stay that way but what Rita wants more than anything is choice.

Looking at the two characters it seems that each wants what the other has. Frank walks past a pub and hears the people singing and thinks that they sound happy, without a care in the world. Rita however looks to Frank with his books, his education and even his accent and wants to be like him. Both are looking for a better way of life or a better song to sing.

During the play Rita undergoes a sort of metamorphosis, her life changes and she changes with it. Act 1 scene 7 Frank questions Rita about her absence at the dinner party and we learn that although she wants to move into middle class society she is not ready, she is still very insecure.

(“Because I’m a freak. I can’t talk to the people I live with anymore. An’ I cant talk to the likes of them on Saturday or them out there, because I cant learn the language. I’m a half-caste”). This speech shows that Rita is suffering from an identity crisis she is in limbo she is beginning to learn which is what she wanted more than anything but feels that she can no longer mix with working class society. However she isn’t ready to mix with middle class society.

At this point Rita is ready to give up to go along with other people’s expectations of her. She feels that the road ahead is too difficult. Because of the changes that have already occurred going back isn’t an easy road either. It is Rita’s mother who unknowingly shows Rita that she must continue, with the line (“because – because we could sing better songs than those”). Rita sees that her mother is stuck in the life she herself so desperately wants to escape, her mother didn’t have choices. With this line Rita’s mother represents working class females and a possibility that Russell has sympathy for the feminist movement. The line is an analogy for life. Rita’s mother is asking is this all there is to life, there must be more than this, better than this.

At the beginning of act two we see a new Rita. She has left her husband and is now sharing a flat with Trish a middle class, educated woman, who she sees as a female version of Frank. She has just returned from summer school where she achieved a great deal, not least of which she mixed with other student on an equal level and gained a great deal of confidence. Rita’s life is changing and Frank is worried he is being left behind. In scene two Rita begins to emulate Trish she is trying to change herself outwardly although she becoming educated she still hasn’t got what she wants and she feels that by changing her clothes and her voice she is becoming a different person. This shows an underlying innocence.

In act 2 scene 4 Frank finds out that Rita has stopped telling him everything about her life, his reaction shows again that he is worried about her growing away from him. Frank was wary of teaching Rita because he didn’t want to change, her now he is realising he was right she is changing and she no longer needs him.

In scene 5 Frank compares himself to Mary Shelley. He feels that in helping Rita to change he has created a monster. Frank wants Rita to realise that although she has gained knowledge she has lost something of herself. (“Found culture have you, Rita found a better song to sing have you? No – you’ve found a different song, that’s all and on your lips it’s shrill and tuneless. Oh, Rita, Rita…”).

It takes Trish’s attempted suicide to make Rita realise that changes on the outside don’t change you on the inside. Throughout the play that is what Rita is striving for. Change and the freedom to choose whether or not, or in which way she will change. When Rita realises what Trish has done she sees that although Trish had everything that she, Rita, wanted out of life she still wasn’t happy. As with Frank, he had everything that Rita had worked towards but he wasn’t happy. Rita now had an education something she had felt deprived of, but that wasn’t the answer.

Rita found that with education came the freedom to choose what to do next, nobody was forcing her to do anything. She had escaped the confines of her working class background and her future, whatever she CHOSE was waiting for her. Education had opened up her options; education couldn’t change the person she is, no matter how much she wanted it to. But it did show her that escape from her working class roots and the ties attached to womanhood offered not a better song to sing but a different song to sing and a different way to live her life. So although the central themes of Educating Rita are education, feminism and the battle of the classes I feel that the main theme in this play is different is not necessarily better.