Educating Rita By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970s :: Educating Rita russell Essays

Educating Rita By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970sEducating Rita by Willy Russell relates to the social, diachronicand cultural context of Britain in the late 1970s throughout the playand this extremely strong and believ fit reference to these threesubjects contribute to a good homo of drama.Willy Russell makes these references in everything, from thesmallest detail, Ritas hair colour to the extreme stereotyping ofeach of the two classes. These experiences are based on Russellsown life and the character of Rita is a mirror of him, because ofthis it is a strong and realistic account of the 1970s. Rita hasshared the same experiences as Russell in both school and work, theywere both under pier pressure not to do well and school and would besingled out if they studied.Rita But studyin was just for wimps, wasnt it? See, if Idstarted takin school seriously I would have become different from memates, an thats not allowed.Because of this attitude to school, or the attitude school gave them,both Rita and Russell ended up in a dead end hairdressing job, butboth of them decided they would change there life and both began tobreak away. I think that because so much reference is realistic due tothe above, an audience of 1979 or 1980 when they play was shown wouldhave been able to relate so well to the characters, especially peoplein there twenties or forties now because they would be able toremember what it was corresponding for them when they went to school oruniversity and they would be filled with past memories and emotions, asign of good drama, something that can evoke emotions.During the play the characters of Rita and Frank are the biggestdemonstration of cultural difference. Rita represents the workingclass culture and stands for what they were, a class who strived toescape their dead end jobs and make a better life for themselves,Frank, on the other hand is the theatrical performance of the working class .Although some might say he is a disgrace to his culture he is aperfect example of the middle classes, someone who has it give tothem on a plate and they take it for granted.These differences are first noticed at the beginning of the play, inRitas opening scenes. She misses the ends off of her sentences thatare usually grammatically in correct she speaks in restricted code.Frank, the middle class man speaks in grammatically correct sentencesand also uses, elaborate code.