Act 2, Scenes 6 and 7

Tuesday 16 December 2008

It's erm- well, it's er- it's a dress really.
I bought it some timr ago- for erm- for
an educted woman friend-of mine...

During the play Rita has learnt, apart from all the academic knowledge that she has acquired, that she can make choices and change her life. She doesn't have to accept things as they come, she can choose what to be. She knows now that she has the power to change her life, and perhaps she will make mistakes but she knows that she will do what she feels. She realizes how much Frank has helped her become autonomous and not depend on others. That's why she returns to her office to thank him. At the same time Frank has also learnt from Rita and from her young and fresh spirit. I think this is why he didn't wanted her to change so much, he wanted her to keep that joyful spirit that he had lost a long time ago. Frank will probably recover from his adiction, and following Rita's steps, he will change his life too. I think that this is why "Educating Frank" might have been an alternative tittle for this play. Teachers also learn from their students, and Frank has learnt from Rita an important lesson too.

" I never thought there was anythin' I could
give you. But there is. Come here, Frank..."

Act 2, Scenes 4 and 5

On these two chapters Franks learns that Rita has quitted her job at the hairdresser's and that now people call her Susan again. Apparently, the only person who was not aware of this was Frank, when there was a time when Rita used to tell him everything. This situation makes him feel that she doesn't want to attend his tutorials anymore, which is true. They have become different people from what they were at the beginning of the play, and also different from each other. Frank's drinking problem is evident, his students have reported him, and his wife left him. On the other hand, Rita is turning into the kind of person that she had always wanted to be. "I've got a room full of book. I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what papers and books to read. I can do wihout you." However, Franks doesn't want her to be like him and his other students, he wants her to be the Rita he met for the first time.
I have more sympathy for Rita because she has to do what makes her happy. Sha has made difficult desicions such as leaving her husband and her house to continue studing. She may make mistakes in the future, but that can't stop her from trying to achieve her dreams.

Sunday 14 December 2008

These two new chapters show us Rita's development. She has become more confident and she is now able to discuss a book with the rest of the literature students at the university. She has finally become able to understand what she reads, and to write essays without depending on Frank's opinion and assistance. She has learnt to consult different sources and opinions, and to be objective. All this makes her a better student and a wiser person on the literature field. However, this does not mean that you need to receive formal education to be wise. Experience makes you wiser, and even an iliterate person can be as wise as a teacher or a professor, and in this case, I think that Rita is wiser at what she does. This is because she has put a lot of effort and dedicated time to her studies, and this has led her to improve her essays and her knowledge on literature.

Act 2, Scene 1

Tuesday 18 November 2008

"D' y' know somethin', Frank? I'm havin' the time of my life"

Rita has experienced significant changes since she last visited Frank's office. She's been to summer school in London and had a great time there. She wrote lots of essays, visited theatres, read poetry, attended lectures and discussed literature topics with other students and tutors. Now she feels renewed and as joung as the rest of Frank's students. She's made excellent progress, but Frank doesn't seem enthusiastic about Rita's changing so much from how she used to be when she first stepped into his office. Perhaps this is because he doesn't want her to lose the freshness that she had, and to turn into somebody similar to him, immersed in the world of literature and high education, but a depressed man and frustrated poet too. She wants her to be herself.

Act 1, Scenes 7 and 8

Rita comes back to Frank's office for her weekly tutorial. As she didn't show up to Frank's house for lunch as she had promissed, he is a bit upset with her. However, Frank soon finds out that she had a fight with her hueband and went to his house anyway, but she didn't came in. I think that the reason why Rita behaved in that way is that she thinks she doesn't fit in with Frank and the rest of the people in the house and, at the same time, she doesn't belong to her husband's or her family's way of living anymore either. She thought that Frank and the others were going to make fun of her because she is not at "their level" yet, and she has trouble with her husband because she is different fron him too. So she's in a turning point where she will have to make decisions and choose which way she will live for the rest of her life.
Rita feels that she doesn't know what kind of clothes she should wear, what sort of wine she should buy and how to behave. The only thing she knows is that she is doing it all wrong and that she wants to change, but she still doesn't know how.

Act 1 Scene 6

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Rita's been to see a play by Shakespeare for the first time and comes quickly to Frank's office to tell him about it. She found it absolutely interesting and wants to share it with someone that she knows can understand what she feels.
Rita uses words to express her enthusiasm for Macbeth such as "...it was bleeding' great, honest, ogh, it done me in, it was fantastic" or "What I couldn't get over is how excitin' it was", "An that fantastic bit where he meets Macduff an' he thinks he's all invincible. I was at the edge of my seat at that bit. I wanted to shout out an' tell Macbeth, warn him.", "It was dead good. It was like a thriller."
She wouldn't be allowed to use these kind of expresions when writing an essay, but perhaps she'll be able to put in into more appropiate words and write an interesting essay on the play.

Act 1 Scene 5

Saturday 13 September 2008

Rita arrives to Frank's office but this time she hasn't brought her essay. Rita tells him that her husband burnt some of the books he had lent her and also her papers after a fight they had. In spite of that, Rita won't drop out. Although her husband wants her to be the girl she was when they got married, she has changed and is starting to find herself . Rita knew that the decision she has taken wasn't an easy one, and that it was easier to keep her life as it was before because that way she wouldn't upset anyone arround her. But she's a different person now, and I think that nothing will let her down. That's why she decides to stay at Frank's office discussing Chekhov instead of accepting her teacher's suggestion that they should give the class a miss and go to the pub to have a drink and talk about what had happened.