Rita's Change and her Relationship with Frank

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. Willy Russell writes that “education gives you a

choice” and I think by this he means lots of different types of

choice. Firstly it gives you choices on careers and your future jobs,

you have a lot more options with education, education helps you see

different views and different ways of thinking and teaches you about

different choices. You can choose whether or not to accept them. If

you are educated on a subject you won’t feel ignorant and you can

choose if you want to express your views or not, instead of keeping

quiet because you don’t know.

In educating Rita there are lots of examples of Rita becoming more

able to choose to express her views because she has been educated.

When she encounters a group of students on the lawn in Act 2 scene 2,

a student starts talking “rubbish” and Rita makes a choice to correct

him. She tells Frank that she thought “I could keep walkin’ and ignore

it or I can put him straight. So I put him straight”, the uneducated

Rita wouldn’t have had th...

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mother’s, I might even have a baby. I dunno, I’ll make a decision,

I’ll choose.” This shows how Rita is at a point where she can choose

what to do next, she is confident and although she admits the exam

might have been “worthless” it still gives her a choice. Her education

has given her the chance to take control of her own life.

I think Willy Russell clearly shows how education can change people

and how others around them react to the changes, that’s one of the

main themes of the play. Willy Russell grew up in a place where he

wasn’t expected to learn or be anything more then a factory worker and

he saved up money and took a course to help him become a writer. I

think that Willy’s attitude to education comes through in the events

and situations Rita’s faced with, sure education gives you choices:

but you have to make sure you make the right ones!