Willy Russell's Presentation of the Relationship Between Frank and Rita

Willy Russell's Presentation of the Relationship Between Frank and Rita

At the start of the play, Frank and Rita can be seen as opposites;

Frank is a middle aged male academic, while Rita is a young, female

hairdresser. Any relationship between the two seems unlikely, but they

warm to each quickly and the audience realises that Frank and Rita are

not quite as different to one another as first appearances show. They

are both involved in unsatisfactory relationships and want more from

life than it seems to offer. The main difference between the two is

that, whereas Rita has recognised her unhappiness and is determined to

change it through becoming educated, frank is a pessimist and tends to

down his sorrow through drinking. Frank and Rita become good friends

in the play because Rita needs Frank to teach her, and he needs the

freshness and vitality that she brings to his life. Willey Russell

presents Frank and Rita's relationship, and how it changes, in a

variety of ways.

At the start of the play when Frank and Rita meet, Rita is very

outgoing and forward. The first thing Rita says to Frank is 'it's that

stupid bleedin' handle on the door. You wanna get it fixed!' you

wouldn't expect a new student to speak to her tutor like this the

first time she ever met him. This also shows that Rita doesn't care

what his first impressions of her are. She then gets into a deep

conversation with him about one of the paintings on his wall. The

convocation is about how the painting is erotic; you wouldn't expect

two people who have just met to be talking about how the painting

turns people on. This point adds to the fact that Rita is very forward

a...

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...- and on your lips it's shrill and hollow

and tuneless. Oh, Rita, Rita…' in this extract he is saying how she

shouldn't try and be like him he should be herself.

However they both make back up as Frank enters Rita into the exam

anyway and Rita passes. Yet they realise that they can't keep their

relationship together and they must both brake off their own separate

ways.

In this play I feel both Frank and Rita have learned a lot about life.

In fact despite Frank being the teacher and Rita being the student,

Frank learnt just as much about life as Rita if not more. Rita learnt

that being educated gives you more opportunities for life as she now

has a choice what she does with her life. Frank learns that he is not

as bad at teaching than he thought he was, he also leant that you

cannot make anyone be your friend.