In the play 'Educating Rita' by Willy Russell, the character of Rita changes throughout the play. I intend to explain why this character changed.

Educating Rita

In the play ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russell, the character of Rita changes throughout the play. I intend to explain why this character changed. I will state whether I thought this was a change for the better or worse. Rita changes at the beginning, middle and end of the play.

The play is set in the North of England. The only characters in the play are Rita and Frank. Rita is twenty-seven years old, married to Deny and a ladies hairdresser. Rita has decided to go on a course at the Open University. She wants to study English literature. Rita wants to change and become a different person. Rita has never sat an exam. Frank is her lecturer and an alcoholic. Frank doesn’t want Rita to change. He thins she is unique. Rita does change at the end of the play. The themes are breakdown in a marriage and education.

The opening scene shows Frank looking for a bottle of whisky hidden behind books, “jubilantly he moves to the Dickens section and pulls out a pile of books to reveal a bottle of whisky”. This shows he is an alcoholic. He doesn’t know what he is meant to teach Rita, “Henry James or whoever it is we’re supposed to be study on this course”. When Rita comes into the room for the first time, she challenges Frank by saying, “it’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door”, which shows Rita is nervous and uncomfortable. She doesn’t introduce herself, “I’m a what?”. She says she has changed her name; “I’m not a Susan anymore. I’ve called meself Rita”. She repeatedly swears to test Frank, “I’m really fucked”, “shit” and “tits”. She is curious “I wanna know everything”. She has a low self-esteem; “I was deed surprised when they took me. I don’t suppose they would have if it’d been a proper university.” She thinks she is a failure. However Frank thinks differently of her. He thinks she is too good for him, “I’m an appalling teacher. Appalling teaching is good enough for most of my students but it’s not good enough for you”. Rita wants to have the same lifestyle as Frank, but Frank takes his life for granted. They have a lack of communication, “what am I?” and “pardon”. This gives me the impression that they don’t understand each other. Rita describes Frank as “a crazy mad piss artist who wants to throw his students throw a window”. Rita likes Frank. She describes her first essay as “crap” but Frank thinks it’s “an honest piece”. Rita wants to learn more about Frank’s life than about literature. Her and her husband Deny aren’t getting along because she is getting an education.

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In the middle of the play the changes in Rita are obvious. She has more confidence, “I can do it”. She is starting to learn how to write better, when she was writing an essay on Peer Gynt, she put down “do it on the radio”, it is a clever answer but it still isn’t a good essay. Her husband thought Peer Gynt was a man not a book. Rita still cares about her husband but she called him “thick”. Her husband doesn’t like her doing her work in the house so she does it at the hairdressers, “I didn’t have time the shop was busy”. Frank doesn’t approve of this. Her education is getting in the road of her marriage. She can’t relate to her husband or friends anymore so she calls herself a “half cast”. She doesn’t know where she belongs any more. She asks Deny to go to the theatre with her but he wants to go to the “beer keg”. She goes to see Macbeth, then rushes to tell Frank, “you’ll never guess what. I went to the theatre”. Frank invites Rita to go to a party at his house, “I couldn’t go in”. She doesn’t have the confidence to go in because she thinks they would all laugh at her as if she was the “court jester”. She goes to the pub and sees her mother crying and saying, “We need a different song to sing”. That is why Rita is carrying on with the course. Deny gives Rita two options, “either a baby or get out all together”. She leaves Deny, “I got home and he’d packed me case”. This is the first decision that has changed Rita’s life. Even though she is upset she wants to carry on discussing her essay with Frank, “let’s continue”. This shows she is becoming a stronger person.

After the crisis Rita becomes stronger and more confident. She is forced to take on a new life. Before Rita goes to summer school she says, “I wish you were gonna be there Frank”. When she comes back she has a new image, “what is this image I see before me”. Frank doesn’t recognise her. She tells Frank about summer school, “at first I was gonna go home but I didn’t”. She asked a tutor a question in front of hundreds of students, “I stood up, I was gonna sit down again but I didn’t”. She is more confident. She started talking to another lecturer, “actually I’m not to familiar with the American Poets”. Frank doesn’t like this and is jealous. She is socialising with the other students, “sorry I’m late. I was talking to some students down on the lawn”. Frank doesn’t approve of this. She goes to view a flat that was advertised in the paper, “me new flat mate Trish. She’s great”. Earlier in the play she wouldn’t go to a party at Frank’s house but now she is willing to live with a stranger. Rita gets a new job in a bistro and doesn’t tell Frank, “There was a time when you used to tell me everything”. She doesn’t depend on Frank any more. She thinks Frank wants to talk about “irrelevant rubbish”. Frank is the only one that calls her Rita “I dropped that pretentious crap when I saw what it was”. Her real name is Susan but she called herself Rita after an author of a book she liked. She knows “what wine to buy. What clothes to wear. What books to read” before she would have relied on Frank to tell her. Frank is drinking more heavily. She passes her exams with distinction. She is happier with her life, even though Frank doesn’t approve of it. They both become friends again at the end.

The play “Educating Rita” by Willy Russell shows the struggle that Rita went through to change. How the breakdown in the marriage forced her to get a new life. The character of Rita changes at the beginning, middle and end of the play. I think Rita has changed for the better because she has got what she wants in life and is happier however Rita is not unique and is too much like Frank.