Educating Rita :: English Literature

Educating Rita.In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell we are lead to believethat in the first few scenes Rita and Frank render nothing in common. Weassume this on a few small things like the way Rita negotiation. She is avery out going character who talks like a commoner. youd better getthat bleadin handle fixed. She hair dresses in a shop and is nothappy with the position she is in. She does not engender a lot interest inhair dressing and it does not feel that it is good enough for her. Shecould do much better. Frank on the other hand is a lecturer at theOpen University. He has a bad alcohol problem and only works there toget money for the booze. From what we gather he is not a very goodlecturer and is not really all that interested in the job, just themoney. He talks not in a posh accent but a smart middle class. Ritaperceives her job as a working class hairdresser to be a job that onlythe lowest of the lowest would do. It is an unsatisfactory job thatdoes not for fill her dream of being a middle class woman. She has thepotential to go for what it is that she wants and luckily she knowsyou to motivate her self to do so. Neither frank nor Rita is reallyinterested in there jobs. They both just do it for the money. This iswhen we learn that they do have something and common they share thesame out looks of there jobs.At the beginning of the play we hear frank talking-to his girlfriendJulia on the phone. She is complaining that he will not be home intime for diner and he is complaining that he wants to go down the pub.This is when we realise that frank is in an unstable relationship withhis girlfriend. Due to Ritas nosey personality we find out that Frankwas one married but has split up from his wife. When Rita asks why hecomments it was because of literature. When really it was because ofhis drinking problem, if he is not careful the same thing will happento him again. Rita finds out that frank use to write meter and thisis why him and his wife split up (or so frank says) Rita then realisesthat she and frank have another thing in common they both have rockyrelationships. Unfortunately Ritas husband Denny has other ideasabout what Rita should do with her life.