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Educating Rita

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Educating Rita
Into The World – 'Educating Rita' Will Russell

“Moving into an unfamiliar world will always be accompanied by challenges but such transitions create an environment for personal growth”

People encounter different ways in which they encounter new stages of experience that bring about change and growth in their life, these aspects of personal growth and transitions into the the world or new phases of an individuals life is clearly evident in Willy Russell's text 'Educating Rita' and the two related texts 'A getting of wisdom”'(SMH) and 'Pygmalion'.

“Moving into an unfamiliar world will always be accompanied by challenges, but such transitions create an environment for personal growth”. This statement is clearly demonstrated in Willy Russell's text, as Russell's two characters are contrasted in terms of gender, social class, educational status and age. Through juxtaposition he allows the audience to compare these characters and their values and observe their interaction as they negotiate their individual paths 'into the world'. Rita's change comes about with her urge for an education which leads her to make the transition of moving out of the uneducated world into the world of the educated .

A key theme that differentiates the two worlds of Frank and Rita is the theme of High culture vs Pop culture, Frank is if high culture and Rita is of pop culture. Often the two worlds collide and meaning is lost between the two. In the Act one Scene One, Rita describes the painting on the wall “thats a nice picture isn't it?” Frank replies with “Emm...yes, I suppose its nice” (Act 1 Scene 1, pg. 3). Rita's description of the painting as 'nice' would not enlighten and art critic, even Frank finds it hard to agree with her opinion. This exchange shows that Rita is eager to embrace everything in this new world, her 'pop culture' undermines the meaning of the painting compared to Franks 'high culture' persepective.

The character of Rita came about the change to change

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