Rita's Answer example essay topic

Question: Discuss Russell's use of comedy in his criticism of the academic institution of his time. In the play educating the author, Willy Russell uses a lot of humour. If you think about his use of humour carefully you can see it has a deeper meaning than first appears. Russell's comedy criticises the university of his day. I am going to discuss the incidences of humour that do so. The character of Frank himself is a criticism of the university.

The audience is expecting Frank to be a boring university lecturer so in the first scene the exposure of Frank as an alcoholic is humorous for the audience because it goes against our expectations. Frank has to turn to alcohol because he feels he is trapped in the ivory tower and is bored with his life only being full of empty facts. This criticises the academic institution. The contrast between the two characters in itself is a criticism of the academic institution. Rita, a working class Liverpudlian would never be thought to develop a relationship with a middle class university lecturer. At the beginning of the play before Frank has actually met Rita he has already failed her in his mind purely because of the fact she is a working class woman.

He refers to her as, "a silly woman". Their difference in class creates humour because of their different social backgrounds, the language they both use and the way they both behave. When Rita comments on the, "erotic" picture on the wall, it creates humour. For Frank and his class the picture is art but for Rita it borders on pornography. The fact Rita gets down to the truth of the matter criticises the academic institution because they are just too pompous to say what they really think. Rita version of assonance as, "getting the rhyme wrong" is again criticising the university.

Rita brings common sense and reality to the university who have isolated themselves from the rest of society by withdrawing to their ivory tower. Frank and Rita's inability to understand each other creates humour as soon as they meet. They cannot understand each other because of their difference in class. Frank uses incomplete sentences like, "You are?" and expects Rita to understand by the tone of his voice. She does not understand but he does not understand that she does not understand. This criticises the university because Frank is too pompous to be concerned what working class issues are.

Rita's behaviour creates humour because she just treats Frank's office like any other room. A university lecturer's room is a place to treat with caution for most students but Rita "bursts" in and starts swearing. Frank does not know how to react. He, "stares quite confused". Rita's interpretation of, "Howard's End" is funny because she assumes it is filthy. Rita has a vulgar mind and is not afraid to say what she thinks.

This contrasts with the set of literary rules the middle class have to abide by. Rita brings vitality and freshness into Frank's stuffy office. This is again criticising the university because they are prisoners in the ivory tower and are not allowed to say such things in their environment. When Rita answers the question about the staging difficulties in Peer Gyn t her apparent lack of effort in her answer, "do it on the radio" angers Frank but amuses the audience because Rita is so na " ive.

It criticises the university because as Frank explains, "an academic essay is a game with rules". The people in the ivory tower do not have the freedom with their essays to say what they really think. They just fill the essays with empty facts and follow the set rules. Rita's answer is actually a very well thought out intelligent answer. When Rita could not pluck up the courage to go to Frank's party she explains to Frank that one of her main concerns was that she may have bought the wrong type of wine. To this Frank replies, "It would not have mattered if you had walked in with a bottle of Spanish plonk".

To this Rita replies, "It was Spanish" In this case Russell uses humour for a serious reason. This is a crucial stage in Rita's development. She feels she no longer belongs to either class. She is a, "half caste" and a, "freak" This is a criticism of the academic institution of the time because they were not just interested in academic issues. All the mannerisms you have to have to fit in with that social circle seemed more important. Another mannerism that seems essential is the posh voice.

When Rita starts speaking with the affected voice she has picked up from Trish the audience finds it funny but really it as this point Rita loses all her uniqueness and just becomes another snob in the ivory tower. Frank refers to her as a, "Dalek" meaning she is just the same now as all the other people in the ivory tower. Frank's realisation that he has killed the old Rita is a serious issue but Russell approaches it with humour. Frank's argument is that Rita has picked up the worst aspects of literary criticism.

He accuses her of been just an empty hypocrite like he used to be. He says he will change his name to, "Mary Shelly" after the woman who wrote Frankenstein because he believes that like her he has created a monster. This is a criticism of the academic institution because it implies that all the people in the university are shallow and full of empty facts. Overall Russell's main criticism using humour is that the people concerned with the academic institution of his time were all shams. They had no idea of what was reality what was the literary game they played with each other.

They were just full of empty facts and nothing they said had any real meaning. By Carly Mellor.