EDUCATING RITA ESSAY QUESTIONS. 1. How did Rita's experience at summer
school change her, and her relationship with Frank? 2. Explore the view that ...
EDUCATING RITA
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. How did Rita’s experience at summer school change her, and her relationship with Frank? 2. Explore the view that the play could equally be called ‘Educating Frank’ 3. What does the play have to say about education? 4. Do you think Rita has suffered or gained as a result of her education? 5. Do Rita and Frank have anything in common? 6. In what way is Educating Rita a play about the clash of class and culture? 7. Discuss whether you think that Rita’s education has changed her life for the better. You may like to consider some or all of the following: • • •
The way she speaks and behaves at the beginning of the play Her marriage to Denny Her relationship with Frank
8. How would you describe Frank’s involvement with Rita? What is it about Rita that attracts and intrigues Frank? 9. By close reference to the text, discuss whether Frank is an effective teacher. 10. Rita says ‘I can have a mind of my own, can’t I?’ During the play, how are we shown that she does have a mind of her own? You may like to consider: • Her reasons for studying • Her relationships with Frank • Her sense of freedom 11. During the course of the play, what do Frank and Rita gain from each other? 12. How does Willy Russell show that education makes Rita independent? 13. Why do you think that Willy Russell has only presented two characters on stage? 14. What is the significance of the off-stage characters in ‘Educating Rita’? 15. Early in the play Rita describes herself as an ‘outcast’. To what extent does this comment sum up her situation in the play as a whole? (2008) 16. Frank is a complex character. How does the writer present the various aspects of Frank’s character? (2008)
