Introducting the Characters and Themes in Educating Rita

There is also Rita a 26-year-old woman who didn’t have a good education when she left school due to her parents’ working class background. She is now keen and eager to learn even though her husband Denny thinks that it is time for her to settle down and have children. Rita has set her sights higher than this. Rita is currently working as a hairdresser, but wants to achieve so much more than that, she wants an education. We get an idea of what sort of personality Frank has got by the conversation he has with Julia when she calls him to see when he was coming home.

“ If you want to change, y’ have to do it from the inside, don’t y’? Know like im doin” declares Rita in act 1 scene 1. How does the playwright show the changes in Rita, and in her tutor Frank, in two key scenes of the play (1.6 and 2.3) "Educating Rita" displays the major changes that occur in the main character, an initially narrow minded, outspoken and socially naïve Liverpudlian trapped by her working class life. Rita thinks an increase in intelligence and worldly knowledge will change this, and set her "free". She strives to change classes, and although is different from her working class peers, she still isn't ready to be accepted as middle class.

At the end of the scene, the audience are engaged so they want to carry on watching because, they want to know what will happen in the rest of the play. These things include, whether she will get what she wants and whether she will pass or fail her exam. Russell has used the combination of these two completely different characters to add humour. This humour has built the drama up a lot because little details are revealed throughout the scene which makes you raise questions about what will happen at the end of the play.

As she enters his office, she notices a risqui picture on the wall and is unable to resist commenting on how "It's very erotic." and defending her opinion by saying "there's no suppose about it," and using the imperative, "Look at those tits." The audience should find this humorous as it is as they would be shocked at her sudden outburst to an 'authority figure' in the play. However, in order to achieve maximum humour for the audience, I would emphasize Rita's Liverpudlian accent and Rita would speak naturally to show her openness and her self-confidence. Frank's reaction to Rita's outburst is also vital if humour is to be achieved.

All of which makes Nora seem more like a prized possession opposed to an equal partner in marriage. This is how Ibsen first introduces Nora to the audience and creates an image of her life before the start of the play. Ibsen first presents Nora inferiority to her h... ... middle of paper ... ...d ruining his honor. At this point, Nora realizes that everyone’s first and foremost duty is to seek out a space for her own self. It seems that she has changed from the frivolous, child-like dependent plaything at the beginning to the rational, determined spokeswoman for individual freedom at the end.

Changes in Rita's Character throughout Educating Rita With reference to the social context of the play, discuss the ways in which Willy Russell shows the changes in Rita’s character throughout Educating Rita. In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell there are two main characters, Rita and Frank. Rita is a twenty six year old uneducated hairdresser. She wants a better life for herself; she wants to have an education. She didn’t get a full education at school as she says, ‘See, if I’d started takin’ school seriously, I would have had to become different from me mates, an’ that’s not allowed.” This shows Rita felt she could never take education seriously because it was for the ‘wimps’ and she didn’t want to be different to her friends, and her family didn’t regard education as being important.

Rita's Change and her Relationship with Frank How does Rita’s character change and her relationship with Frank alter during the course of the play? “Educating Rita” is the story of a married working-class woman, Rita, trying to better and discover herself by attending an open university course. The play follows her as her character and relationship with her tutor, Frank develop and change until she finally passes her exams and they part. Rita completely transforms herself through her education and by the end she can choose what to do next rather then being swept along by circumstances and everyone else’s expectations. Rita says that she only wants a baby when she’s got choice and by educating herself she is getting choices.

At the beginning Rita is keen to learn quickly as she sees education as the means to and end, however as the play goes on she comes to understand that true education is more than that. Rita has a very direct manner at the start of the play, stating several facts about Franks room and people she has met, using language that shocks the audience, ‘There's no suppose about it, look at those tits’, and she seems to have a very unusual, and refreshing, perspective on life, and this causes Frank to take a different view to some things that he and Rita discuss ‘I’ve never really looked at it like that. But yes, yes you could say it means getting he rhyme wrong…’ Rita’s very eager to learn ‘I want to learn everything’ but Frank considers her to be too clever for him to teach her anything. She di... ... middle of paper ... ...ke notes! When you have to answer a question on Forster you can treat the examiner to an essay called Frank's Marriage!’ to which Rita replies, ‘Go 'way!

Rita is a working class woman who has littl... ... middle of paper ... ...eginning of the play. When the play progresses Rita possibly for the first time in her life thinks philosophically, "a room is like a planet" she explains to Frank, this is something that Rita would not have been capable of saying in Act one. In conclusion to all of the points made above I believe that Rita does not truly know what she wants to do with her life. Her relationship with Frank and her family disintegrates as she becomes more educated. Although her personality changes in a circular motion she ends up in the same place as before however this time she has a choice with what path she wants to take in life whether it be carrying on with her education or settling down.

Critique of the Movie Educating Rita Director: Lewis Gilbert Screenwriter: Willy Russell Released: 1983 With Julie Walters, Michael Caine, and others Rita (Julie Walters) is a twenty-six years old hairdresser from Liverpool who has decided to get an education. Not the sort of education that would get her just a better job or more pay, but an education that would open up for her a whole new world--a liberal education. Rita wants to be a different person, and live an altogether different sort of life than she has lived so far. She enrolls in the Open University, a government program that allows non-traditional students to get the kind of higher education that used to be reserved more or less for the offspring of the upper classes, and mainly for male students at that. "Educating Rita" describes the trials and transformations that the young hairdresser has to go through to develop from a person with hardly any formal schooling at all into a student who passes her university exams with ease and distinction.