Preview

Comparison Of Rita And Frank In Willy Russel's Educating Rita

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
701 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparison Of Rita And Frank In Willy Russel's Educating Rita
“Rita and Frank appear to be at opposite poles” Discuss this statement with lose reference to scenes one to five. You must include quotes and stage directions.

In the play “educating Rita” written by Willy Russel it is clear that frank and Rita appear to be at opposite poles. This is apparent throughout scenes on to fine within the dialogue and stage directions featured in the play.

At the beginning of the play Rita presents herself as an obnoxious, un-educated twenty-six year old women with an unwanted job and burdened with a marriage. She is a working class woman eager to learn and know “everything”. She has an aim “i wanna discover myself” and is headstrong to achieve it. At he beginning of the play it is also clear to understand that frank and Rita differ in their educational levels, as Rita’s is rather basic, frank is extremely educated. his background educational status differs from Rita’s in high regard as her educational status and past education experiences were quite poor this is
…show more content…

The emphasis of the difference of Rita and frank intensify however changes take place and similarities are put on the table throughout the scenes. She begins to teach him like he has taught her. An example of this is demonstrated on pages 16 and 17 when Rita gives meaning to the term “off your cake”. He then uses it in a few of his own expressions. Another change is the feelings presented by frank in a provocative tone such as “id rather do anything than teach; most of them with you young lady...” Rita then replied “sod off” which is indication a difference in relationship ideas and perspectives; perspectives being another underlying issue between Rita and Frank. How different their perspectives are and continue to change. Beginning with Rita’s perspective on frank which changes rapidly thought out scenes one to five from complete admiration leading to the feeling of equality as she begin to learn more about

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rita at the age of six wasn’t like most children that played with different races of kids and got to play outside freely. Rita had to hide and be careful who she talked to on a daily basis. Rita couldn’t go out…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This journey that Anne Frank encountered, although a short journey had a big affect on her life. A few steps down the road from where she lived had changed her life forever, more than she could have ever imagined. Anne Frank was forced to leave her life behind, in a time of World War 2. This paper will show the comparisons and differences between her life during this time as shown in the play and the movie.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Justin Ao

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages

    (b) How does this scene hint at events that will occur later in the play?…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is at this point in which the literature class turns into a social comedy, taking into account the comic events in which operate the two characters, besides the metamorphosis process that crosses Rita-Susan during the development of the story in which is shown an outlandish character who talks in an inappropriate way and is considered as an opposition to the rules of high society, and then it appears a character who eventually turns into a…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    What does a comparison of the way the characters and their relationship are presented in Act One, Scene One with the way the characters and their relationship are presented in Act Two, Scenes One to Three reveal about the development of Rita and Frank and their relationship, in Educating Rita?…

    • 3558 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    June 10 48 Marker

    • 942 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Text A is an extract from Educating Rita, a play by Willy Russell, which immediately highlights the fact that this text is crafted speech, meaning it will show a lack of spontaneous utterances, as Russell will have used specific lexis to add to the emotive aspect of his play. The piece is set in a northern university, which conveys there is sociolect, such a ‘y’’ in the play. With the participants both being educated, as we know Frank is a middle-aged lecturer while Rita is his Open University Student, we understand that elevated lexis and field-specific words will be used – ‘unashamedly emotional statement’. Russell’s purpose in this extract is to display these two characters in alternative situations. Rita’s internal purpose is transactional as she aims to find out the quality of her Macbeth essay, whereas Frank’s purpose is interactive and expressive while attempting to be supporting of Rita regardless of failing to acknowledge her plea for help – ‘If I do somethin’ that’s crap, I don’t want pity, you just tell me, that’s crap’ – this quote highlights Rita’s lexis as she uses colloquialisms, such as ‘crap’ while accent is evident with the use of ‘somethin’’.…

    • 942 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She is judging without knowing and she feels superior to educated person because she does not understand the purpose of getting educated. The main character over estimate herself and she demonstrate this fact at the beginning of the story by saying that "Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right" (Bambara 116). In this line, Sylvia makes references to Miss Moore and to unknown people. She finds everybody around her stupid except her and sugar. The author uses the words "young", "old", "foolish" and "stupid", to put the emphasis on the intensity of Sylvia’s selfishness. She does not understand why people are proud to be educated because she is insulting Miss Moore as follow: "I’m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree" (Bambara 116). In this passage, the strong insults emphasize the nonexistent importance Sylvia is according to school. For Sylvia, having a college degree is a way for Miss Moore to overestimate herself instead of increasing her life’s quality. Sylvia is victim of her innocence she thinks that education is useless nevertheless; it is a good way to accesses higher life…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rita’s language is informal and colloquial, whereas frank’s is formal, illustrating the gaps between the lower class and middle class. However, even from this early scene, Rita expresses her overriding wish – she wants to ‘know everything,’ emphasising the fact that new worlds, indeed, offer possibilities. Rita and frank both want more than the world offers. Frank dislikes his job and his students, and confesses that he is ‘an appalling teacher’. Rita, on the other hand feels trapped in her current life, because of the expectations placed on her by her working – class friends and husband, who believe that she should settle down and start having a family. However, Rita is not prepared to do this and her quest for an education brings her into conflict with her husband Denny, revealing how the pathways into new worlds may undoubtedly contain problems and drawbacks. Eventually, when Denny makes Rita…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Could You?

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages

    9. What do both the summary of Scene 7 and the sidenote for lines 1-10 of this drama tell you?…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Esl the Miracle Woker

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages

    To begin with, William Gibson shows Helen was obstinate child at the beginning and Helen was known as a wild child. She had a bad attitude and terrible manners. As the play runs Helen becomes a polite child. For instance, at the beginning of the play Helen doesn’t have table manners. One of the examples from the play is at the breakfast time. When Viney serves the breakfast to everyone Helen set up and starts to mess up with others plate. Helen, instead of having her own plate and sitting down and eating like everybody else did, she went around the table and took foods and drinks from others plate. As well she throws forces and napkins to ground. “ Helen is wandering around the table to explore the contents of the other plate. She messes with her hand in James’s plate, then in Keller’s, both men taking it so for granted they hardly notice. Then Helen comes groping with soiled hand past her own plate, to Annie’s; her hand goes to it, and Annie, who has been waiting, deliberately life ana removes her hand.”(Pg 53, Gibson). Since no one had teach her about table manners everybody ignores her, what she do Helen became a spoiled child. Towards the ending of play Helen start to learn about the table manners by her governess Annie. It was a great effort at firstly for Annie because Helen was used to getting everything she wanted. Also it was hard for Annie…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    australian vision essay

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As Rita’s education progresses, we see her internal conflict deepen as she finds herself even further removed from a sense of belonging either with her family and friends, or with frank’s friends, or the fulltime students.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Into the World

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Into the world shows changes in an individual’s life through their personal experiences. One individual will go through many barriers and obstacles to achieve the change. The prescribed text, Educating Rita by Willy Russell and the related text, ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ by JC Burke explores different and similar pathways to how the characters in those texts change through their new experiences. In the prescribed text ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russell is about a 26 years old woman, hairdresser Rita who starts seeks motivation in education to motivate her and move into a higher educated class leaving her working class behind. Russell uses extended metaphors and imageries throughout the play ‘window’ this symbolises as the physical barrier for the relationship between Rita and Frank and into the world. The colloquial language is a barrier for Rita at the start of the play when she enters Frank’s room ‘I’m comin’ in, aren’t I?’ which shows Rita’s education level isn’t that high. Also, Rita’s misunderstanding interpreted when Frank’s makes references to literature texts ‘Howard’s end’ Rita’s respond that it sounds ‘filthy’. Rita comes back from ‘summer’ break to the city of London; she becomes more mature as she meets her new flatmate Trish who gave her motivation to reach her goal to have a brighter future. In the related text ‘The Story of Tom Brennan’ by JC Burke is about a family after a brutal car accident their life’s was like chaos and many things in the family fell apart. Tom Brennan adopts a new way of looking at life through the use of first person narrative and visual imagery “everything I thought I knew about who I was and who the Brennan’s were changed forever” implies Tom’s innocence to alter his feeling of grief towards his recklessness brother Daniel because of the trouble Daniel make in the town. His family decided to move into a different town, Coghill implies a change in community dynamics through the use of colloquial…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    English

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Firstly, in Willy Russell’s two-hander stage play ‘Educating Rita’ Susan, known as Rita is presented as an individual seeking education, this leads her into off-loading the values and beliefs of the working-class society. Rita’s is shown as a female that does what her social group expects her to do, this is in act 1: scene 2 where she explained what school was like for her. Rita describes the school environment as being, ‘borin’ ‘broken glass everywhere’ she also thinks her teachers…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    generation whereas Shelia is the younger generation, who is more aware of the responsibilities they have towards other people which is strongly shown as the play goes in by the way she changes her hierarchy attitude developed by her dad and how she wants equality for others which are lower than them. She is the only character who accepts their responsibility in the accident that has happened. Other Characters are seen to ‘shake it off’ and deny their part in all of it. Shelia thinks and takes on the most responsibility when she has the least part to play – Even though she got ‘Daisy Renton’ fired this isn’t the main reason this came about, it was an amalgamation of what others actions did, other characters more prominent than her own. The play begins with Mr. Birling and his family celebrating the engagement of Sheila to Gerald. Shelia and Mr.Birling are the two most alike characters in the room by what they say, what they think and how they act however this all changes when Shelia see’s what her dad is really like. She and Mr.Birling by the end of the play are the two most contrasting people who no longer share the same views or thing in the same way. Shelia for this is seen as society as a whole, this is because she see’s what is wrong and changes who she wants to be and what she stands for. This is the same for society at the time it wanted to break out and have equality but it hadn’t had the chance to so Shelia breaking from her dad and their family’s way of life is what is seen to be the biggest change…

    • 2879 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rita

    • 4478 Words
    • 18 Pages

    "I wanted to make a play which engaged and was relevant to those who considered themselves uneducated, those whose daily language is not the language of the university or the theatre. I wanted to write a play which would attract, and be as valid for, the Ritas in the audience as well as the Franks." Willy Russell, born and raised in a suburb of Liverpool, came from a working-class background. Some of his experiences in early adulthood are reflected in his play Educating Rita. Russell left school after completing only one O-level (comprehensive exams taken in the equivalent of grade 10) in English Literature and went on to become a hairdresser. At age 20 he returned to school and became a teacher. Echoes of all of these experiences, his working-class upbringing, leaving school early, hairdressing and later becoming a teacher, can be seen in Educating Rita, a…

    • 4478 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays