Educating Rita "Educating Rita" by the playwright Willy Russell is a thought provoking play about the plight of a woman who does not want to face the drudgery of working class living anymore. The play tells of her struggle to become academically educated and her battle to become part of the middle classes. The playwright uses this play to tell of the working classes' attitude towards education and how a opportunity and a bit of determination by them can result in them being better off. The techniques and how the playwright uses them to develop the two characters in "Educating Rita" are very interesting and varied. At the start of the play Frank is on phone and he gives us the impression that he could do without the "˜silly' open university woman's tutorial because it is just a waste of time. We would maybe expect him to be in control and tell Rita what to do but right away she is bossing him about, complaining the door handle and admiring the slightly rude picture. This "˜role reversal' is a clever tool the writer uses to get our attention right from the start. The dialogue between the two characters is stimulating and unexpected. Rita is so cheeky and not at all intimidated by her tutor but her outward manner probably disguises the nervousness she feels inside. Frank does not know what's hit him and towards the end of scene 1 he is telling Rita not to come back but she is not going to give in that easily.The play continues with Frank and Rita the two main characters having an on/off relationship. Rita was not very committed to getting down to serious work to begin with but eventually does reluctantly. Frank is more interested in going to the pub that teaching Rita. As the play develops both characters changed and discovered things about one another other they did or didn't like. This progresses through to the end with Rita gradually being educated.When Rita decides to take the path of education she also has the choice of settling down and having a baby. The writer uses irony here as this is the opposite of what is expected from her working class background at the time when the play is set."I'm twenty-six should have had a baby by now, every one expects it. I'm sure me husband thinks I'm sterile" "See I don't wanna baby yet. See , I wanna discover me self first." The writer conveys to us how Rita has no choice at the start of the play, and how she is expected to carry out certain things like being a good wife and mother. She knows that she wants to change and to change to a better educated person. When Rita has passed the exam she returns to Frank to thank him, while she is speaking she brings up what she is going to do next. During this she suggests that she might even go and have a baby. This is the very thing that she did not want to do before she had become educated . This irony of Rita turning round and criticising things that she once did comes up at many points in the play. Before Rita was educated she followed a pattern of...
