To What Extent Do You Agree That Educating Rita Is A Feminist Play? We have been studying a play by Willy Russell named “Educating Rita”. It is set in the late 20th century in Liverpool, England. Rita is a 26 year-old from the working-class who thrives to get an education. Rita along with Frank, a university teacher and alcoholic is the only character to speak in the play. The action of the play is singularly situated in the open university classroom. We hear about several other characters and events having happened in different locations but we never leave the classroom. It seems obvious that Educating Rita is a feminist play as it shows that women have a right to education and have a great potential as Rita learns in the space of six months what the “regular students” as she calls them, them have learnt in their lifetime. Before joining the open university, Rita has a very basic education. She has only attended school until the age of 16 and hasn’t learned much. She even admits having the urge to learn but being pulled out of it by her peers when she says “If I’d started takin’ school seriously, I would have had to become different from me mates, an’ that’s not allowed.”. A proof that she does not have a proper education before …show more content…
In conclusion, one may agree that “Educating Rita” is a feminist play as well as a classist one. This is shown by the fact that she comes from a very long way and manages to catch up on all the work that has been done by the “regular” male students, the goes despite everyone’s opinion and takes the initiative of attending university and she Becomes the first “educated” person in her entourage. One may therefore conclude that Willy Russel was trying to emit a critic on society exposing the obstacles a woman would face on the way to getting an education. This is clearly symbolised at the beginning of the play when Rita tries to get into the class and the door refuses to open signifying her difficulties in accessing the academic