Educating Rita by Willy Russell Essay -- A Play By Willy Russell

Educating Rita by Willy Russell How do the characters of Frank and Rita change throughout the tourand what is Russells purpose of using the technique?Educating Rita is a run written by Willy Russell who was born inLiverpool, Whiston.I really dont want to write victimizes which are resigned, menopausal,despairing and whining. I dont want to use any medium as a platformfor displaying the smallness and hopelessness of man.Willy Russell wrote Educating Rita as a comedy, he wanted to write afunny play to be watched and not to be studied. Coming from a working company family and society, he witnessed a deep injustice in the substancelower classes were treated. Even though people who were working classhad wonderful qualities, they were often regarded as worthless. InEducating Rita there are two classes, the lower class that isrepresented by Rita and the upper class represented by Frank. Russellreveals that although both characters come from different classes,they can both learn from eac h other.In this play there are only two characters. Although many other peopleare important to the play, Rita and Frank are the central characters.Rita is a 26-year- anile woman who has obdurate to take a course inEnglish Literature at the Open University. Frank, who is in his earlyfifties, is Ritas tutor at the University. From the first hatchwayscene we immediately see that Frank has a drinking problem, as hehides bottles of alcohol behind books in his study. Frank is in hisstudy on the phone to his girlfriend to whom we can see he does notlike much yes just pop off and put your head in the ovenAt the start of Act 1 Frank shows that he is uninterested in Rita,prejudges her and thinks that she ... ... one she leaves behind. She does pay a price, by leavingDanny and not having a louse up yet, she gets what she wants, aneducation.In the play, education is portrayed as a game when they are in theuniversity not going there for the need of an education save toacquire the lifestyle that an educated person would so. Frankdoesnt know this game, but Rita does and at the end of the play sherealises what it has done to her. At the beginning of the play she isan uneducated woman, who knows little about academic things but hasa lot of experience about life. She doesnt value the knowledge whichshe already has much. She throws away her old life and what she getsback - Frank thinks- is much less valuable.But to Rita, education is a way out of mediocrity into a superiorlifestyle. The tragedy is that she pays for it by becoming a differentperson.