Educating Rita Example #4 Essay Example

and he paid for this by working at a factory. He entered Childwall college and felt like he could start again. He felt at home.

At the time working-class society and middle-class society were very much apart and clearly did not mix, for the working-class culture literature and education are not important and not part of their lives (Rita feels this is stifling her), yet for the middle-class people it is essential in their lives although Frank in the play seems to have grown tired of it. Just as Willy Russell Rita feels misplaced in society and decides to change her world to by entering the world of education.

She begins the play as a clearly ignorant person, frank her tutor asks her 'and you are' obviously wanting her name yet she replies 'what am I? clearly unfazed by what he actually wants to know, she is also constantly making jokes and coming across surprisingly loud and assertive taking off her coat and bag, placing it wherever it pleases her without being asked. Frank on the other hand is a highly educated and experienced tutor and poet with an alcohol problem who seems to dislike his students and holds a strong grudge against himself, he describes Rita as 'the first breath of fresh air to walk into the room' and believes he is not good enough to teach her what she wants to know: everything. She is eager to learn and is willing to change.

In Act 2 Scene 1 Rita has just come back from summer school, we quickly realise at the start of this new act that significant changes have taken place in Rita's life since

we last saw her, in the play we do not see these happen of course but we do see and hear the results. Apart from being at summer school she now lives in a flat with a friend after being thrown out of her home by her husband who disagreed with her education, yet it is the changes in her character and attitude that are the most startling and which need to be emphasised by the actress playing Rita's part in this play.

As Rita enters Franks room the actress playing her should 'burst' in with an incredible air of confidence, throwing the audience back immediately noticing the change in her. She is wearing new second hand stylish clothes and shows them off to Frank the clothes most probably symbolising the new person that she has become, the transition is complete. She then surprisingly takes of her shawl and gives it to Frank whereas before she simply took her jacket off and hung it wherever she could.

She then goes on to say to Frank that it was 'fantastic' this change in dialect is evident as before she would not have used such word as fantastic. Frank seems to attempt to ignore the obvious change in her and asks her 'if she actually got any work done while she was there, he seems taken a back by her response as she says 'work? We never stopped. Lashing' us with it they were; another essay lash, lash do it again, lash' when saying these lines the actress should clearly project excitement and pride in her voice.

She then goes on to tell Frank that while she was at the

library a tutor approached her and asked her if she was 'fond of Ferlinghetti' she says ' it was rite in the tip of my tongue to say only when its served with parmesan cheese, but I didn't I held back! ' This part of the play is very significant as it is not like her to resist the opportunity to make a sarcastic comment or joke, this highlights the effort she has put into changing and that she is now achieving what she wanted.

As the actress plays out this part of the play and particularly when stating these lines she should have a proud tone and a strong posture showing the confidence she has gained, at this point she seems to want recognition or praise from Frank. Along with the ability to control herself when it comes to her jokes and sarcasm, she also expresses to Frank the boost of confidence she gained from standing up in front of thousands of students in a lecture to ask a question, she becomes very exited when sharing this with frank so the actress must show this clearly.

The increase in her knowledge is most certainly evident and this is clear in this scene as she refers to authors such as Chekhov smugly commenting that 'I am dead familiar with him' and also when moving onto the subject of what they are covering next Frank comes up with the idea to study William Blake expecting Rita to not know what he is talking about, surprisingly when Frank begins to recite one of Blake's poems out of a book Rita follows on, yet reciting it by heart, when the

actress does this she should look proud and very happy with herself.

Frank now seems to feel threatened that Rita is almost overtaking him, he begins to notice this change taking place. She is a new person; Rita is now educated.. Rita has now adopted a more youthful appearance with new clothes and fresh mind, yet it is not only her appearance changing; when Frank offers her a cigarette she refuses politely, this depicts that the way she thinks has also been altered by this change education has brought about in her life, she has become more environmental and health conscious just as young students are. Overall Throughout Act 2 Scene 1 we notice a dramatic change in Rita's attitude and character.

Where before she was funny and often told jokes and made sarcastic comments about what she did not know, here she does not do this once. Everything she has to say is straight to the point, swearing is also avoided as she does not swear once when speaking to Frank whereas before it was part of her normal dialect. When an actress is playing this part she must keep in mind the extreme change that has taken place in Ritas character, she is no longer the 'stupid typical working-class girl', she is now a bright young woman who now sees herself with choices and decisions that she would not have had before she was educated.

The actress must reflect this feeling of a 'new person' by exaggerating confidence in everything she does, concentrating on the feeling of extreme confidence and pride in herself as this has to be clearly projected to the audience. Where before Ritas

wanted to achieve something but was not sure she could do it, here she has now proved to herself that she can and feels unstoppable.