Education Rita Essay

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Educating Rita Essay ‘What are the similarities and differences between Frank and Rita and how does the language they use in the course of the play reveal these?’ The purpose of this essay is to analyse the ways in which the two main characters of the play are similar and different to each other and to evaluate the language they use in the course of the play. Rita is a twenty-six year old hairdresser who is comparatively uneducated, whereas Frank is an alcoholic teacher working for the Open University and also a retired poet. The two characters lives come together at the Open University and in the course of the play we discover that Frank and Rita have some similarities as well as some differences. The predominant similarity between these two characters, Frank and Rita, is their dislike of their jobs. Frank is fed-up with being a teacher because he no longer gets pleasure from it. The only place that seems to give him any pleasure is the pub where he can drink almost any time with whoever he chooses. At some time in the past, he used to be a poet until there was no longer any excitement in it.“I’m actually an appalling teacher... But you’re different. You want a lot, and I can’t give it... I don’t like the hours, you know. Strange hours for this Open University thing. They expect us to teach when the pubs are open. I can be a good teacher when I’m in the pub, you know.” (1.1.Pg. 13) The reason Frank disapproves of his job is because of the strange hours – he works during the evenings when he would like to be socialising in the pub. He thinks he is an awful and uninspired teacher so he wants Rita to go and find a better tutor who can teach everything she wants to learn properly. Rita is also disenchanted with her job because she thinks that she could do better if she has a better education. Therefore, she comes to the Open University to study and finds Frank

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