A Character Analysis of the Film "Educating Rita" by Willy Russel and the Differences Between the Play's Stage and Screen Versions Essay

Discuss the changes in the characters in Educating Rita and explain how these are portrayed differently in the stage and screen versions of the play. Educating Rita is a play about Rita, a working class hairdresser who yearns for a change in her life and to be better educated also it is about a dissipated literature professor who tutors Rita to earn some extra money. Rita decides to become educated to improve her life style she wants to understand literature and theatre. Many of the changes in the play occur mainly due to the ways Rita and Frank interact and change each other, this is shown by the way they talk and what they say. The changes in the film are shown by changes in appearance and language. In ways this play is about many aspects that centralise on choice, culture, priorities and education. There can be many different responses to the play and the film. This play is mainly about how education changed Rita for the better, and in what ways has it had a negative effect and what has getting to know Rita taught Frank. At first Rita is uneducated. Her background is working class, but she wants to change her life for a better way of living, 'But these women, you see, they come to the hairdresser's cos they wonna be changed. But if you want to change y' have to do it from the inside, don't y? Know like I'm doin'. Do y' think I'll be able to do it?' She has the will to learn very hard and she wants to reach her aims. Rita wants nothing less than a total education for example, Frank asks, 'What can I teach you?' and Rita replies, 'Everything.' Later on she seems to think that she has learnt everything, 'I've got what you got Frank, and you don't like it.' At the beginning he finds himself faced with an unexpectedly fresh and uncluttered...