Educating Rita by Willy Russell

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Educating Rita by Willy Russell Frank and Rita's relationship develops gradually throughout the play 'Educating Rita'. The first few pages of the play show immediately how different Frank and Rita are. While Frank seems quiet, polite, nervous and lost, Rita is loud, pushy, confident and self-assured. This is how they appear at the start of the play, but as they get to know each other they reveal more about themselves. It is discovered that Rita is under pressure to have a baby, but she wants to explore her mind first. Rita is twenty-six years old and wants to become educated and 'know everything'. Frank, as we find out, is also trapped and he goes to the pub regularly and drinks excessively to cover up for his unhappiness. He only works as a university tutor to pay for his alcohol, and also drinks on the job. On their first meeting Rita barged through the door into Frank's room at the university. She shouts and curses at Frank whilst telling him to get his "stupid bleedin' handle on the door" fixed. Frank was shocked by Rita as she didn't enter the room timidly and politely like most new students would. Frank is again taken aback by Rita's outspoken personality when she asks if he thinks that a picture is "erotic" and says "look at those tits". He chooses his words very carefully to answer her when he decides that "it's very beautiful". As Frank and Rita get to know each other better, his answers to her change from shy and hesitant to witty and coarse. One prime example of this is when Rita says "This Forster, honest to God he doesn't half get on my tits…" and Frank answers "Good. You must show me the evidence". Rita is still using ripe language as she did at the beginning of the play, but Frank has changed his polite answers to dry and allusive ones. As the play progresses, Frank and Rita teach one another about life and empathy. Throughout the play, Frank openly shows Rita that he has feelings for

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