What kind of Fish are you? An Educated Swimming Cow!

In what way is Educating Rita a play about the clash of class and culture?

Reflecting upon this question makes me remember about a lot of stories with a similar purpuse. All the soap operas by Thalia, some similar Disney's stories, also Chavo's version and so on...
While I was reading the play the first thing that came to my mind was "My Fair Lady", which also reflects very clear this clash of culture and class (from my viewpoint My Fair Lady reflects more the idea of class' clash, maybe I imagine Rita a bit different).

At the beginning of the story Rita was eager to learn, to be an educated woman, she wanted to be different from what she was. She believed and felt that she should be educated to have access to a different group of people, a different class.
Rita used to think that culture and class goes hand in hand. In some way it might be true, different classes share different customs. But the fact that they are different has nothing to do with the value they have.
That is to say, all different cultures are valuable and you and any person belonging to any of this different cultures is eucated in that culture.
I think that the word class is no longer in "fashion", I mean what can you call a different class. Are there better social classes than others? Is one social class totaly uneducated?
Education, and culture has nothing to do with social classes. You can come from a very poor part of the city or from the highest class and even then be an educated person (or not).

The idea is that a class does not make the education or culture. What is important is the people and the fact that they want to learn and become better so as to build a better society.

Small steps toward a much better world

The Educated Woman's Dress and the Hair Cut

This last scene of the play is like a balance of everything.

Rita discovers that pretending leads nowhere. She was hungry of knowledge and she really wanted to fit in this "social group."
But then she relized that as well as her, the rest of the students were not what she thought. She changed her point of view and her opinion of them. At the beginning of the story she was fascinated with them, because she considered as educated people, but in what respect to their "spiritual" or "scential" or "that" what makes a person, she was disappointed. I think she started looking at them as she used to see her clients at the beauty saloon.

Frank makes a point when he says "... I put rather more emphasis on the word woman than the word educated."

It's more important the person itself rather than the education the person has acquired.
I mean it's important to be educated as long as the education doesn't "run over" your being.

I think Rita finish cutting Frank's hair as a way of showing that she didn't loose her identity, and at the same time she is sharing part of what she is with Frank.

"Knowlege is chasing me, but I'm faster..."

The Great Pretender

Working as a hairdresser the only thing Rita should care about were details. Pure vanity and external appearance, which she considers an irrelevant issue for life - actually "irrelevant rubbish."

She cannot stand this idea of making "Beauty" the most important thing of life. It doesn't fill her as a human, because she is passionate, she is open to other things - to important and spiritual matters which really make her life.

The same happend with her name, Rita realized that her name was just external, irrelevant. The name is not what makes the person. She is no longer Rita.

She is an educated woman now. She has the tools needed to study, and she feels she can do whatever she wants. She thinks she found her place.

Frank feels abandoned, neglected. Rita does not tell him everything as she used to do (as the change of job, name, etc.). He feels a bit disappointed, he feels responsible for the changes he had done or foster in Rita. This "New Rita" is his creation, his "FrankenRita." That is why he suggest changing his name into Mary Shelley.

To conclude with his complain he asked her how should he call her now?
Virginia... under V. Wolf, Jane under J. Brontë, or Charlotte or Emily Austen.

"What is essential is invisible to the eye"

Ritamorphosis

From the very beginning Rita changed her name and that was just the first step of the metamorphosis...

Rita decided that to be an educated woman and discuss beautiful literature she needs to change the way she speaks, and not only the way but also the tone of her voice. (I image something like The Nanny trying to sound smart).

She is burying the old Rita. She is no longer herself. She has no identity.
She adopted a new name, a new voice, a new style. She has no opinion of herself, she doesn't own a point of view, she adopted writer's opinionsm and consulted recognized authorities.
Frank is quite disappointed, because he misses the old Rita, her old believes, questions, sincerity and simpleness. That's why he doesn't like her essay.

The new Rita, under the shape of a silly society which has not opinion of theirown.
I think Frank wants Rita to think for herself, and not to express what a society expects from her.

"Be yourself, no matter what they say..."

Songs of Innocence and experience

Rita is a new woman. She went back from the summer school with a lot of new experiences. She feels full of life. She has a great flat mate, she doesn't hesitate at the time of makig questions in class, she is able to talk with teachers or tutors about books and writers. She feels part of the system!

She wants to share and transmit part of this experience and energy to Frank. Rita has the idea to take the lesson out in the garden. But Frank doesn't want, he is not ready to any change.
The she tries to open the window in order to get some fresh air but it's stuck: "It hasn't been opened for generations."
Franck is closed to any possible thing which tries to make a difference in his life. He doesn't want fresh air, he doesn't want to go out. Rita thought that he has started to reform himself (as he was writing poetry again). The one stuck in life is Frank.

I think they represent the two extremes, the innocence and the experience. But they both are innocent and experienced in different aspects of life. On the one hand, Rita has the experience of life, she is able to see the simple aspects of life but she wants to know more in order to experience new things. On the other hand, Frank knows a lot and has a lot of experience in what respect to knowledge, but he is still innocent in what respects to life, for example he is not able to have a family.
They seem to complement eachother, one has what the other lacks. Innocence and experience.

Not My Glass of Wine - Not my Cup of Tea

Why didn't Rita go to Frank's dinner party?

At first, Rita was enthusiastic about the dinner party but not Denny. They had an argument about it, but anyway she wanted to go...
Something had already changed in Rita. She was very sociable, not an introverted woman at all, but now she feels insecure...
She cannot decide what sort of wine she should buy. She feels unable to talk to the other guests. She feels that everybody is going to laught at her. She feels that she is not going to fit or find her place in this party. She feels like a fish out of water.

I think that the dinner party and her life are a reflection (or consequence) of what is happening whith her studies. It's the beginning of the change, she is learning something new, she is experiencing new situations and she is seeing life from a new point of view, that is why she feels insecure, everything is new and she doesn't know how to react to this new situations.

Rita writes her essays with passion. She is unique, she still has this "something" that makes her different from the rest of the students. Frank doesn't want to change her. But she wants to start with the change...
The change which will make her able to feel secure with the rest of the students; which make her able to appreciate other things...

A change that will allow her to start again, to start a new (different) life...

Be dead Boring... or be dead Excitin'

What words does Rita use to express her enthusiasm for Macbeth?

"... I thought it was gonna be dead borin'..."
"... But Listen, it wasn't borin', it was bleedin' great, honest, ogh, it done me in, it was fantastic."
"... It was dead good. It was like a thriller."
" I just thought it was a dead excitin' story."

Rita was so delighted with the play, she felt so happy about her discovery, that she was eager to write an essay and tell Frank how did she feel. It was a completely new experience for her and the fact that she enjoyed the play promoted or encouraged her with the writing of the essay.

Could she use these words in an essay?

Of course she cannot use these words (read above) in the essay. This is colloquial language and she should use formal language do an essay.