The Portrayal of Metamorphosis in Educating Rita by Willy Russell
In this essay, I am going to discuss the portrayal of metamorphosis in Willy Russell’s ‘Educating Rita.’
I am going to write about how the play’s two round characters, Frank and Rita, change their attitudes, confidence, lifestyle, appearance and their overall look on life throughout the course of the play. To do this, I will analyse Frank and Rita at the start of the play and then go on to comment on how they change from the beginning to the end of the play.
The writer who wrote this brilliant play is called Willy Russell. He was born in 1947 in Liverpool and lived most of his life there. He came from a typical working class
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At first, she is very bubbly and chatty when she meets her insecure and quiet, tutor, Frank. They could never know how their personalities and attitudes could affect each other and help them to eventually change for the better. When the play was made into a film in 1984, it was so good that it received a Bafta for best film, best actress and also the best actor.
It could be considered that the writer of the play tries to show his own metamorphosis through the character of Rita. He successfully shows how he and Rita both came from a deprived background and changed their lives dramatically with hard work and determination.
At the beginning of ‘Educating Rita,’ we see Rita as a very forthcoming and lively person. This is evident as the first time that she actually meets her tutor, Frank; she is extremely open and talkative with him. “Well that’s no good always meanin to, is it? Y’ should get on with it; one of these days you’ll be shoutin’ ‘come in’ an’ it’ll go on forever because the poor sod on the other side won’t be able to get in. An’ you won’t be able to get out.” This quotation shows us that Rita is incredibly friendly and is not at all shy. She is not embarrassed to speak her mind. This is the first impression that the reader has of Rita.
Although we see that Rita is open and forward, we also learn that she is uneducated and doesn’t believe that she
it. There was a faint sign of rebellion hidden behind this idea..." (Politzer, 76-77) All of
When individuals are rejected by family and society, they tend to feel abandoned and unloved. In Franz Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s transformation into a “monstrous vermin” (Kafka 1) results in him being psychologically and even physically abused by his family. Rejection from his mother, sister, and father leave Gregor feeling unwanted and feeling as if he is a terrible burden on the family and their well being.
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Love in itself is a very complicated emotion, being either the driving force for a great blessing or a pressing burden. When comparing the surrealist chronicle, The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka, and the down-to-earth short story Samsa in Love, written by Haruki Murakami, this idea truly takes form. The Metamorphosis is the story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who works vigorously to support his disconnected family. One morning, Samsa awakens to find spontaneously himself transformed into a giant cockroach. No longer able to support them, the roles are flipped and Gregor is now being cared for and quickly becomes a burden on his family. On the other hand, Samsa in Love transforms Kafka’s original story as in this version, Gregor Samsa
The deeper meaning of “The Metamorphosis”, by Frank Kafka, can be interpreted in many ways depending on critical theory is used to examine it. From a feminist criticism, one can observe how Gregor’s dominance as a male diminishes after he becomes a bug as his sister’s strength and role in the family grows stronger. From a biographical criticism, one can compare and contrast the traits of Gregor and the people around him with that of Kafka’s own life and his relationships. However, the focus of this essay will be applying a psychoanalytical criticism to the characters in “The Metamorphosis”, using the studies of Sigmund Freud to approach
Educating Rita by Willy Russell explores the value of education, but also the wider education that takes place and how to use that education to your greatest benefit; not only during the school education but also the looking at the surrounding world. Rita, an uneducated lady, is unhappy with the limitations of her social class and feels that to escape the limitations she needs to get a properly recognised education. She therefore decides to do an Open University course in English literature. This she believes will greatly increase the horizons of her life and remove some of the limitations that she feels are imposed upon her. She wants to learn everything but soon discovers that even education has its limits. Frank, her tutor and lecturer,
indeed a person who has a lot to say and Frank listens and responds to
Without the constraints of external forces, is human nature inherently good or evil? In Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa’s transformation into a "monstrous vermin” serves as a window into the human psyche. Through lack of obligations, decreased sense of shame, and increased sexual drive, Kafka reveals Gregor’s relationship to the outside world weaken, as his internal instincts grow stronger. Kafka utilizes Gregor’s transformation as a symbol to show the dangerous potential of the human “id”, a term coined by Sigmund Freud, to break down social norms. This psychological venture reveals humanity’s true instincts as animalistic, when not contained through personal and societal pressures.
is not quite good enough. Rita wants to be of a higher status than her
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a novella that begins with an absurd concept. A man wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. While this concept for a story is certainly absurd, Kafka contrasts this plot with a rather dull, plain narrative. It may initially seem novel to explain a ridiculous situation in a simple manner, but this causes the novella to be quite boring.
In The Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa is forced to deal with his transformation from a human being into an insect. After his transformation Gregor is no longer able to do everyday ordinary things. He now has to depend on someone to do these things for him. His younger sister, Grete, makes herself responsible for Gregor. She takes it upon herself to make sure that Gregor is fed and his room is cleaned. This leads to the question; why does she place such a huge responsibility on herself? An optimist like Gregor who only sees the good side of people would say it is because she is a loving and caring person. That her brother’s current condition makes her feel sorry for him and
Early in the film, Russell explains in a voiceover. “It’s been almost 10 years since Jacob and I became friends, but when my friends and I first met him in central African it was in difference circumstances. He was running for his life” This was the attention grabbing statement if we remember in “The metamorphosis” in the first direct quote Gregor was found to be a monstrous cockroach. One wouldn’t think that any story or film would start with such vibrant themes.
The story begins with Toyotaro reflecting on returning to Japan after years spent in Berlin. He felt like he became “a very different person” from when he set out to Europe and he was very nostalgic about those days in Berlin. Because of a very strict education at home, his old mother and responsibilities he had, he had promised himself that he “would not be impressed by any scenes of beauty” he faced with in Berlin. However, after three years of studies “one’s true nature reveals itself”. He thought that because he had been “exposed to the liberal ways of the university for some time”, his real self “which had been lying dormant deep down, was gradually appearing on the surface and threatening” his former assumed himself. He didn’t want to
This story "The Metamorphosis" is about Gregor, a workaholic, who is changed into an insect and must then deal with his present reality. The hardest part of being an insect for him was the alienation from his family, which eventually leads to his death. In reading the short story "The Metamorphosis," (1971),one can realize how small the difference is between Magical Realism and Fantastic. This literature written by the Austrian, Franz Kafka, is often debated over.
Educating Rita is the tale of one working class women 's struggle to find an escape to a boring, repetitive life and to find new things to conquer. To acheive this she begins university on a literature course despite the discouragement from family and baby-obsessed husband Denny. The play features only two characters, Rita and Frank. Frank- a middle class, well-educated, eloquent professor and Rita, an abrupt, crude excuse for a lady with no regard for or more precise, no knowing of social nouce. Throughout the play Rita 's character must reach two social extremities before she can learn to be true to herself. Arriving in Frank 's office loud and sarcastic