Changes in Ritas Character throughout Educating Rita Essay -- Educati

Changes in Ritas Character throughout Educating RitaWith reference to the social context of the play, discuss the ways inwhich Willy Russell shows the changes in Ritas character throughoutEducating Rita.In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell in that respect are two maincharacters, Rita and Frank. Rita is a twenty six year grizzly uneducatedhairdresser. She sine qua nons a better life for herself she wants to havean education. She didnt get a full education at school as she says,See, if Id started takin school seriously, I would have had tobecome different from me mates, an thats not allowed. This showsRita felt she could never take education seriously because it was forthe wimps and she didnt want to be different to her friends, andher family didnt regard education as being important. She goes tothe Open University to further her education in English literature. In the Open University there is a professor called Frank, he will betutoring Rita. Frank has a drinking problem and he also thinks he isa bad teacher. He says, Everything I know and you must listen to this is that I know absolutely nothing. He thinks literature and high culture have given him nothing in life to value, thats why he thinks so poorly of his job. In the play Willy Russell tries to show the ways in which Frank andRita communicate. When Rita first walks into Franks room she is fullof questions, she has a lot to say. It seems as though she is full oflife. Frank describes Rita, Do you know, I think youre the firstbreath of unobjectionable air thats been in this room for years. Frank likesit that Rita is different from his other students because the thingsshe says come to her naturally. Rita has not been tr... ...ere she is eager to learn, as she says,..if you want to change, y have to do it from the inside, donty? know like Im doin. This shows Rita wants to change. She alsogoes to summer school in order to learn more by going to summerschool it boosts her self-confidence. Then she m oves in with someonecalled Trish, who she admires and now because she has changed, has alot in common with her. The things Rita has done, which are to have taken considerable lengths ingetting an education, show how serious she is about her desire to wantto change herself. She even separates from her husband for the reasonthat she chose education instead of him, in an ultimatum her gaveher. She has move so hard to succeed and now that she has, I thinkthat is being realistic. No one handed her an education on a plate,she worked hard for it, I this that is realistic.