Despite Rita’s confident façade, she possesses a fairly defeatist attitude towards the University course. She believes that, although she desperately wants to, she will never achieve her dream. Rita also believes that the Open University course is second-rate to the other courses that the ‘real’ students take. Rita is thoroughly uncomfortable with being working class, as her outlook is more middle class, yet also is not ready to be considered as the latter. She wishes to be of higher class in comparison to the likes of her friends and family, and somewhat assumes that merely gaining and education via the Open University course will bring about this dramatic transformation. Rita is completely dependant on Frank, telling him that she wants to know ‘everything’, not understanding that this is completely impossible. She naïvely thinks that knowing what books to read and phrases to say will automatically make her a member of the middle class; believing all who are referred to as middle class are free of problems and troubles. This slightly immature outlook displays her lack of understanding that wherever you are on the social hierarchy you can still have problems. At one point, Rita asks Frank, ‘God, what’s it like to be free?’ whilst looking longingly out of the study window. This naïve inquiry and action seem to reflect how she feels about her life; constantly gazing out at something that she could have been, and so desperately wants.
Willy Russell’s decision to set the entire play in one room emphasises Rita’s perception of herself as being a ‘trapped’ individual. It initially restricts Rita’s movement; her enthusiasm and energy; her inability to stop fidgeting and moving and her constant observation of everything imply further that her social strata imprisons her, wanting to escape this ‘cosy’ domesticity and acquire ‘real’ choice. This one setting also causes the audience to primarily focus on the relationship between Rita and Frank, and the changes that occur over time. These changes are also visible from the language used by the two characters. Russell uses language to differentiate between the two characters, building on the social message that the upper middle class are considered superior. Rita frequently uses contractions and slang, making her sound less educated in comparison to Frank, who seems to never fall short of standard English.
‘Educating Rita’ is a two-hander play, directly involving only Rita and Frank. The other characters, such as Denny and Julia, filter through Rita and Frank’s descriptions. Willy Russell captivates the audience, without relying upon these numerous grand settings or characters. The characters of Rita and Frank are deep and connected, but also comic. ‘Educating Rita’ is a comedy of contrasts, immediately juxtaposing the character of a sparky young hairdresser and her middle-aged tutor. Despite, the comic appeal of the play, it is also filled with pathos. Rita and Frank both appeal to the audience’s emotion due to their feelings of both being ‘outsiders’ in their social strata.
Regardless of Rita’s social naivety, immaturity and slight ignorance, Frank and Rita still seem to ‘click’. The social gulf between them is wide; Frank is intellectually superior and their lifestyle differences are numerous. However, they seem to be both outsiders – neither playing the game assigned to them by background and birth. Frank has a drink problem and has suffered much loss of respect from his students and colleagues, whereas Rita feels completely ‘out of touch’.
Rita endears Frank with her innocent, ‘child-like’ charm and witty observations. Initially, Frank seems taken aback by Rita’s blunt assessments. For instance, when viewing a particular erotic painting in Frank’s study, Rita exclaims crudely, ‘Look at those tits!’ However, Frank does not judge her harshly. He is disinterested in his current students who lack that individual spark that Rita possesses; they simply regurgitate common literary criticism. Rita is refreshingly bold and vivacious. Even her awkward attempts at criticism at the start of the play are surrounded by quick-witted dialogue and as the play progresses these layers of ignorance are peeled away and she can apply her wit to the academic work in hand.
Frank has his own negative experience of academia and knowledge for knowledge’s sake. He initially refuses to teach her, not wanting to allow her to displace her energetic character and uniqueness, to be replaced by a mundane someone with the same banal views as every other student. However, Rita has taken a liking to ‘Flora-man’ Frank and insists that he becomes her tutor; demonstrating her determination and persistence. It seems that if Rita wants something, she will determinedly remove any challenge in her path until she possesses what she desires.
Therefore, Rita begins her evolutionary journey, regularly visiting Frank for her tutorials. Before Rita manages to adapt to the 'new' culture, she becomes a ‘half-caste’, belonging neither to the working nor to the middle class. At this point, she can only go forward hoping for better choices. She gradually becomes more self-confident and independent; speaks in an unnatural voice, imitates life-styles and adopts accepted opinions as well as a new culture. Rita becomes increasingly arrogant and very confident. Whereas before she would look up to the other students but not dare say a word to them, wishing to be like them, feeling inferior, she will now approach them with no hesitation, willingly, and even give her opinion or correct them in conversation. The audience can see Rita becoming increasingly less funny as she loses her comic appeal that endeared the audience to her in the first place. This loss of humour from Rita seems to heavily represent the negative changes in her character, as Frank had predicted. However, some positive aspects have been gained from her education; initially her speech was excessively rapid, with words tumbling out of her mouth before she had given any thought to them. Her vocabulary was basic and limited and she changed the subject of conversation far too often. Now her accent is toned down and she speaks far more softly and intellectually.
Rita’s newly adopted maturity and literary understanding is indisputable when she relays an event to Frank that occurred at summer school; ‘This tutor came up to me… an' he said, ‘Are you fond of Ferlinghetti?’ It was right on the tip of me tongue, to say, ‘Only when it's served with parmesan cheese’, but, Frank, I didn't!’
She feels that she has finally escaped the imprisonment of the room. She has evaded a future in which she is ‘encapsulated’ with the working class. At the time, many people believed the working class should have no right to further education, and receive a life prescription of settling down, and starting a family. Rita recognized this as immensely dull, and she ambitiously strived to better herself intellectually and emotionally. Along her path, she attempts to emulate a range of people that she admires, but Russell implies that this is a negative practice and Rita can only achieve what she really desires by being herself. She succeeded, and finally her ambition became a reality.
This extensive refinement causes Frank to become appalled at what he has created. He even refers to Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ to represent how he feels that he has ‘created a monster’. This seems a harsh assessment, but Russell allows the audience to empathise with Frank as a channel to see how somebody else perceives her. It seems that their lives are fundamentally intertwined with a reflective quality that causes Frank to descend as Rita ascends. Frank believes he has caused Rita to lose her vivaciousness and inimitable individuality. She has been influenced by many people including fellow students and her flat mate; replicating their views and customs. Due to her new self-confidence, Rita does not rely on Frank, instead she questions his views, does not confide everything in him, and rejects their previous intimacy. Frank feels she has been taken away from him, and continues to drink to keep these inclinations removed from his foremost thought. It is significant during this part of the play that Frank seems at his most vulnerable and isolated. The audience can sympathise him; they may too miss the original, spontaneous and comic Rita.
Eventually, Rita understands how her transformation has not been entirely beneficial to her character. This supplements the social idea that perhaps a formal education does not automatically create superiority. Rita has merely moved from one extreme to another, not yet finding the balance between the two. However, she finally does find the medium, becoming more sophisticated, wiser and composed, whilst retaining her original edge and quirkiness. Rita is liberated and emancipated; set free from social restrictions placed upon her by her class. The predominant change is that she now possesses many choices – ‘I’ve got choices now’. Her chains have been cut and she is no longer tethered; she can do what she wants to do; go where she wants to go; and live the life she wants to lead. Rita understands that an education and a culture do not automatically create happiness, and she is educated enough to realize that both classes have their flaws. Her story is an irrevocably uplifting message, which could be considered a rarity in a naturalistic play. It seems implausible that her story could replicate a believable everyday reality. She represented the socially underrated married woman, who felt painfully ‘out of step’. By the end of the play, she has managed to incorporate her ideal self with her true self, and is now truly ‘in-step’.
