Batch_KG
New Member
i found this on the net, could help, worth a read.
Educating Rita
In this essay I will comment on how Russell comments on modern society in his play Educating Rita. William Russell was born in Whiston, just outside Liverpool, in 1947. At primary school he enjoyed reading, football and gardening, these were the only subjects he liked, but at his secondary school he was consigned to the factory fodder D stream. It was in this surprising environment that he conceived the idea of being a writer. His only experience of factory work caused him to fail to obtain a printing apprenticeship, so his mother suggested he trained to be a women's hairdresser, he worked as a woman's hairdresser for five years eventually running his own salon. After this he was seeking a career that would give him a greater opportunity to write, he decided to become a student, having now passed O Level English at night class. No Local Education Authority would give him a bursary, so he spent some time girder cleaning at Fords in order to fund his college O and A level studies. In 1970 he trained as a teacher.
You can see in the play that Russell is commenting on society as Russell is almost like Rita, she lives near Liverpool with little education and works in a hairdressers and tries to get the opportunity to have choice by getting an education. During the play Russell shows that the class system is apart of modern society and Rita kind of wants to change classes, from working to middle, she doesn´t know how to chose and has little education. Equal opportunities in the way that women are expected to have babies and stay at home all day but in his play Rita breaks away from every one else and gets an education and he shows how hard it is to get an education.
In the play Russell tells you about two people, these are the main characters Frank and Rita. Rita is a working class person who is trapped in life and wants choice, she has little education and a poor job as a hairdresser and during the play she tries to break free from her social class, she thinks she should have had a baby by her age, she wants to discover herself first but no one understands so she thinks she is different, in the play she says "I should have had a baby by know every one expects it". Rita wants to be more like Frank, educated, middle class, has choice. But Frank is also bored and trapped, he goes to the pub a lot to cover up for his unhappiness, Rita also wants to change some of Frank. Russell is trying to point out that
Rita is trapped in her social class, she wanted to succeed in school and be happy but her friends and family say that school isn´t cool and so she doesn't learn, this happens all the way through her life until know when she decides to break a way from her social class, in the play she says this as "you´ve got to be into music, clothe an fellers…" she also talks about quick fixes, if you do something wrong you can just get a new one, "if you get it wrong you just play a different song or get a new dress an stop worrying". Rita also believes that there is something wrong with society, everyone is sad but seems to cover up for it by getting more money as unions, TV and the papers tell you to, "there's like a disease but no one mentions it, they behave as though its normal….".
Frank is also trapped and unhappy as this is shown by Frank always drinking or going to the pub, on a phone call Frank makes up excuses to go to the pub, he say "I shall need to wash away the memory of some silly woman's attempts to get into the mind of Henry James… Why did I take this on?" All Frank is doing is covering up for his unhappy life, he only works to pay for his drinks and he also drinks on the job.
Rita's main reason for trying for an education is so she can have choice, she tells Frank that everyone thinks they have choice but they all think choice is deciding what drink to have or what to wear, Rita also thought this at the very beginning of the play, now Rita knows this is not choice, choice is something that will change her life. Rita is feed up of other people making her choices for her like Denny wanting her to have a baby, "He thinks we have choice already, choice between Everton an Liverpool, choosing which washing powder… I told him id only have a baby when I have choice." Through this Frank is showing that we are trapped without choice, with no choice we can go nowhere, or at least not where we want to, he is showing that we have to make are own choices.
As Rita is changing she rows with Denny and breaks up with him, Russell does this to show that Rita is changing, in the play Denny burns Rita's books, he does this because he wants to control he, he wants to get Rita back because he feels she is slipping away and he wants her back, in a way he is jealous that´s why he burns her books, "I see him looking at me sometimes and I know what he's thinking, he's wondering where the girl he married has gone to." At this point Rita considers herself to be a half cast because she is the only one who wants an education and the only one who wants to be able to have choice.
When Rita gets back from summer school she has changed, she is more confident and she thinks she is educated. When Rita was at summer school she decided to take things more seriously so instead of telling a joke when the teacher asked a question she replied sensibly "Are you found of Ferlinghetti? It was right on the tip of my tongue to say only when served with Parmesan cheese but Frank I didn´t" and in a lecture Rita decided to start asking questions "After he'd finished he asked if any one had any questions, an I stood up". From this Rita thinks that she is educated, Frank also knows Rita is starting to become more educated and is kind of getting jealous, he tells Rita this by giving her one of his pieces of poetry. When Rita comes back she tells Frank that his poetry is great "this is brilliant, witty, profound…" but franks responds to this by saying that she has finished learning know but he is being sarcastic and he says that she has only started singing a different song not a new one "found a new song to sing have you, no you´ve found a different song to sing" So Rita has an argument with him and says "you can't bear that I'm educated now. Don't you like that the little girl has grown up". Russell is trying to show that Rita is becoming more educated and she thinks she has become educated but she is just starting to understand everything that she has been taught, Rita also wants to be more like Frank and she thinks her new friend is the female version of Frank, Rita also thinks that she is educated because she is just like Trish (the female version of Frank), she even starts to talk and act like Trish "What's wrong with your voice? Nothing I'm just talking properly… Trish says that no matter how difficult I may find it I must preserve" Because of this Rita thinks that she is singing a new song. When Trish tries to commit suicide Rita realises that she is not educated, this is because Rita thought that Trish had everything but Trish knew she didn't, Rita also realises this now.
I think that Russell wrote this play because he had a hard time and he wanted to tell people that you need to have choice or you will become trapped. I think that Frank used humour in his play because it would make people understand it more and enjoy it; the play goes better as a comedy rather than a drama, people would also understand it more as a comedy and take t in better. I enjoyed the play; I thought that it is better shown on TV than in a book. Russell did get his points across and I think that the concerns of this play have slightly changed because there is still a class system but it is not as strong and as unfair as when he wrote his play.
Educating Rita
In this essay I will comment on how Russell comments on modern society in his play Educating Rita. William Russell was born in Whiston, just outside Liverpool, in 1947. At primary school he enjoyed reading, football and gardening, these were the only subjects he liked, but at his secondary school he was consigned to the factory fodder D stream. It was in this surprising environment that he conceived the idea of being a writer. His only experience of factory work caused him to fail to obtain a printing apprenticeship, so his mother suggested he trained to be a women's hairdresser, he worked as a woman's hairdresser for five years eventually running his own salon. After this he was seeking a career that would give him a greater opportunity to write, he decided to become a student, having now passed O Level English at night class. No Local Education Authority would give him a bursary, so he spent some time girder cleaning at Fords in order to fund his college O and A level studies. In 1970 he trained as a teacher.
You can see in the play that Russell is commenting on society as Russell is almost like Rita, she lives near Liverpool with little education and works in a hairdressers and tries to get the opportunity to have choice by getting an education. During the play Russell shows that the class system is apart of modern society and Rita kind of wants to change classes, from working to middle, she doesn´t know how to chose and has little education. Equal opportunities in the way that women are expected to have babies and stay at home all day but in his play Rita breaks away from every one else and gets an education and he shows how hard it is to get an education.
In the play Russell tells you about two people, these are the main characters Frank and Rita. Rita is a working class person who is trapped in life and wants choice, she has little education and a poor job as a hairdresser and during the play she tries to break free from her social class, she thinks she should have had a baby by her age, she wants to discover herself first but no one understands so she thinks she is different, in the play she says "I should have had a baby by know every one expects it". Rita wants to be more like Frank, educated, middle class, has choice. But Frank is also bored and trapped, he goes to the pub a lot to cover up for his unhappiness, Rita also wants to change some of Frank. Russell is trying to point out that
Rita is trapped in her social class, she wanted to succeed in school and be happy but her friends and family say that school isn´t cool and so she doesn't learn, this happens all the way through her life until know when she decides to break a way from her social class, in the play she says this as "you´ve got to be into music, clothe an fellers…" she also talks about quick fixes, if you do something wrong you can just get a new one, "if you get it wrong you just play a different song or get a new dress an stop worrying". Rita also believes that there is something wrong with society, everyone is sad but seems to cover up for it by getting more money as unions, TV and the papers tell you to, "there's like a disease but no one mentions it, they behave as though its normal….".
Frank is also trapped and unhappy as this is shown by Frank always drinking or going to the pub, on a phone call Frank makes up excuses to go to the pub, he say "I shall need to wash away the memory of some silly woman's attempts to get into the mind of Henry James… Why did I take this on?" All Frank is doing is covering up for his unhappy life, he only works to pay for his drinks and he also drinks on the job.
Rita's main reason for trying for an education is so she can have choice, she tells Frank that everyone thinks they have choice but they all think choice is deciding what drink to have or what to wear, Rita also thought this at the very beginning of the play, now Rita knows this is not choice, choice is something that will change her life. Rita is feed up of other people making her choices for her like Denny wanting her to have a baby, "He thinks we have choice already, choice between Everton an Liverpool, choosing which washing powder… I told him id only have a baby when I have choice." Through this Frank is showing that we are trapped without choice, with no choice we can go nowhere, or at least not where we want to, he is showing that we have to make are own choices.
As Rita is changing she rows with Denny and breaks up with him, Russell does this to show that Rita is changing, in the play Denny burns Rita's books, he does this because he wants to control he, he wants to get Rita back because he feels she is slipping away and he wants her back, in a way he is jealous that´s why he burns her books, "I see him looking at me sometimes and I know what he's thinking, he's wondering where the girl he married has gone to." At this point Rita considers herself to be a half cast because she is the only one who wants an education and the only one who wants to be able to have choice.
When Rita gets back from summer school she has changed, she is more confident and she thinks she is educated. When Rita was at summer school she decided to take things more seriously so instead of telling a joke when the teacher asked a question she replied sensibly "Are you found of Ferlinghetti? It was right on the tip of my tongue to say only when served with Parmesan cheese but Frank I didn´t" and in a lecture Rita decided to start asking questions "After he'd finished he asked if any one had any questions, an I stood up". From this Rita thinks that she is educated, Frank also knows Rita is starting to become more educated and is kind of getting jealous, he tells Rita this by giving her one of his pieces of poetry. When Rita comes back she tells Frank that his poetry is great "this is brilliant, witty, profound…" but franks responds to this by saying that she has finished learning know but he is being sarcastic and he says that she has only started singing a different song not a new one "found a new song to sing have you, no you´ve found a different song to sing" So Rita has an argument with him and says "you can't bear that I'm educated now. Don't you like that the little girl has grown up". Russell is trying to show that Rita is becoming more educated and she thinks she has become educated but she is just starting to understand everything that she has been taught, Rita also wants to be more like Frank and she thinks her new friend is the female version of Frank, Rita also thinks that she is educated because she is just like Trish (the female version of Frank), she even starts to talk and act like Trish "What's wrong with your voice? Nothing I'm just talking properly… Trish says that no matter how difficult I may find it I must preserve" Because of this Rita thinks that she is singing a new song. When Trish tries to commit suicide Rita realises that she is not educated, this is because Rita thought that Trish had everything but Trish knew she didn't, Rita also realises this now.
I think that Russell wrote this play because he had a hard time and he wanted to tell people that you need to have choice or you will become trapped. I think that Frank used humour in his play because it would make people understand it more and enjoy it; the play goes better as a comedy rather than a drama, people would also understand it more as a comedy and take t in better. I enjoyed the play; I thought that it is better shown on TV than in a book. Russell did get his points across and I think that the concerns of this play have slightly changed because there is still a class system but it is not as strong and as unfair as when he wrote his play.
