The Metamorphosis of Rita in Willy Russell's Educating Rita Educating Rita by Willy Russell tells the story of 'Rita' White a twenty six year old hairdresser, who is trying to gain an education at the Open University. Russell has written the whole story as a play with only two characters, Frank and Rita. All scenes are in Frank's study and follow the dialogue between Frank and Rita. Russell wrote the play in the 1980s and it is somewhat autobiographical, it explores the structure of society and its link with education at a time when education was becoming available for all classes. In this essay, I will explore these issues by looking at the relationship of the two characters and the personal fulfilment …show more content…
Russell immediately creates these two characters as the antithesis of each other, Frank, the tutor, is a very intelligent, well-educated man. Rita is not as intelligent or intellectual as Frank; she comes across as very blunt and colloquial. She does not act as someone is expected to in the company of a stranger and she does not feel at all inferior to Frank. As soon as she enters the room, she takes a commanding role and is telling Frank what to do. Frank is shocked and surprised by this apparent role reversal with the student dominating the teacher. He immediately tries to regain his position of authority "You are?" This is a very upper class phrase and Rita, unused to such language takes this phrase literally, "What am I?" Frank gets confused and so it continues until Frank gives up and studies the admission papers. This confusion is comical, and importantly Russell has already shown us that it is useless for Frank to try to gain any authority over Rita, she is at the college because she wants to be and she is going to do things in her own way. Also, we are shown that Rita does not understand the principals of politeness and she does not yet see the clues …show more content…
At the end of scene six Russell stages a very awkward conversation between Rita and Frank. Frank is asking Rita to a dinner party. The dialogue between them is very short and almost monosyllabic, "will you come?" "If y' want." This scene shows there is still an awkwardness between these two characters, Rita is seen as inadequate, they are not equal in their relationship. In the end Rita does not turn up for Frank's dinner party. Rita argues that she wants to study and learn at the university, however Rita sees the middle class as totally different from herself, and although doesn't want to be working class, doesn't feel she will be accepted as middle class either. She has the idea that all middle class individuals are free, and stereotypes them, making sweeping generalisations. She assumes they all eat wholemeal bread, flora, and watch the BBC, as this is seen as more intellectually stimulating than ITV, the channel that many of the working class watch. This shows that she stereotypes certain groups of people from what she has heard, instead of her
what is for her and how she wants to live. So in the end, she is where she
...ons of her present life, we know that she has found peace and happiness with her past.
that she has a lot of freedom within which to write her story and to
Now she had became an entrepreneur, she had took a whole lot of risks in order for
she can be to something she wants. Early one we get a glimpse of her serious side;
she wants to live her life. So in the end, she is happy and where she wants to be.
lives in the past. She is happy to have her family with and be safe from
He is a lazy man, bored and frustrated by his life he too does not
would clash or get on like a house on fire. But I believe it was Willy
in 1979, based on his own life. It is set in Liverpool and depicts the
The question of what Rita gains in Educating Rita is quite easy to answer. What she loses is less obvious. Her intention is to gain a college education and she largely succeeds in this. On the way you could say she loses her job and her husband, but it is worth asking whether these are really losses to the person Rita, or rather Susan, becomes.
Education provides unique experiences to everyone. These experiences are not depended on the individual’s personal backgrounds or social statuses. According to Jane Thompson, a scholar in education, the process of education can either be a restriction on creativity or a “practice of freedom.” In Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, the protagonist’s experience through the Open University is a practice of freedom as she is provided with the opportunities to express her thoughts and discover her own limits. There is an internal struggle within Rita as the new environment threatens to erase her past life. Rita is able to maintain her practice of freedom through the help of Frank, whom provides her with a welcoming and encouraging learning environment.
In the play Educating Rita, Willy Russell uses many dramatic devices to develop the themes and characters. By doing this he is able to build up an image of the characters and themes in the audience’s head. One of the main ways he does this is through characterisation. The two main characters (and the only ones we actually see) are Frank and Rita. These two characters couldn’t be any more different. Frank is a University lecturer in English Literature with a drink problem. He had a failed marriage and is in a struggling relationship with ‘Julia’. However he does appear to have a comfortable middle class lifestyle and has written some poetry in his time. Rita is a working class, 26 year old hairdresser who has taken the big step of enrolling on to an Open University literature course. She is married to a man called Denny, he objects to the course as it means Rita been away from home and leaving her social life within the community behind her. When these two meet a whole can of worms is opened and many amusing, sad and entertaining events take place.
in his office to Rita. He tells her that he "sometimes get an urge to
pushing towards her goal, and so can anyone if they work hard and dedicate themselves to