Rita's Character in Willy Russell's Educating Rita

Rita's Character in Willy Russell's Educating Rita

First impressions are very important and Willy Russell is keen to

portray Rita as an enthusiastic but common lady.

In Rita's first line of the scene, we find that she speaks her mind

"It's that stupid bleedin' handle on the door. You wanna get it

fixed." We also find out that Rita is a strong confident character

because when Frank tells Rita "I suppose I always mean to…" She tells

him "Well that's no good always meaning to, is it?" This is ironic to

because the student is telling the teacher what to do.

"I'll bring y' the book-its great" Rita ironically offers a book to

the teacher. She carries on asking all the questions all the way

through the scene, even though it should be the other way around.

"Very good ten out of ten…. collect a gold star" We also learn that

Rita teaches Frank how to teach assonance. "I've never really looked

at it like that. But yes yes you could say it means getting the rhyme

wrong"

In this scene we find out many things about Rita's character, she

experts in things she does, she can construct an argument and she can

recommend books. We also find out that Rita believes in changing the

inside not the outside. "…They wanna be changed. But if y' wanna

change y' have to do it from the inside don't y'?"

What do we learn about Rita's School days?

Rita didn't enjoy her school, she didn't learn while at school because

if she did she would have to change her friends. She could have learnt

but she was loyal to her friends. She conformed to low expectations,

even though she knew the answer she didn't say because of her friends.

" Nah, just normal y' know, borin' ripped-up books, broken glass

everywhere, knives an' fights. An' that was just in the staff room.

Nah they tried their best I suppose, telling us we stood a chance if

we studied.

"I saw this fantastic bird, all coloured it was, like dead out of