In this play, we have experienced how a “girl” (at the beginning) could find the way of feeling better when she started to make choices for her own life, and become a “woman” who is ready to take control over it.
Everything in Rita’s life has changed: her personality, her personal circumstances, her culture and also the people who surround her.
After all, I think that Rita has gained as a result of her education. She has learnt that she is able to choose what she wants for her life and what is better for her. She doesn't need to accept things as they come anymore and furthermore, she is not afraid of making mistakes. She knows now that she is the only person who is able to change her life through the decisions she will take in the future.
I cannot imagine when somebody suffers as a result of studying. Every little experience of studying something gives you growing. I totally agree when Willy Russell says: “education gives you a choice”, because not only it implies an educational experience but also a change in people’s personality.

The goal has been achieved!

The final scenes of the play show us both Frank and Rita about to embark on new stages of their lives. Frank is leaving the University where he met Rita while she has passed her exams successfully. Now, Rita is ready to take charge of her own life.
Rita hasn’t only learnt about Literature but also about making decisions for herself, a very important issue that has to do with everyday life.
While Frank is packing all his things, he gives Rita a dress he bought her some time before. He said that he bought it for an educated woman and when he chose it, he put rather more emphasis on the word “woman” than on the word “educated”.
I think that, after all, Rita has gained experience, confidence and control over herself. The change she was looking for brings more new experiences and challenges for her, who is ready to face a number of choices about the direction her life is to take.
I believe that the dress Frank gives her symbolizes the end of a challenge for him. As if it was the last detail that was missing to let Rita go away from him.

"I want to change everything"

Rita is not a hairdresser anymore. It seems that Rita is not interested in boring details so she doesn’t tell Frank about it.
Rita works in a bistro now…but what’s the difference between working in a bistro from a hairdresser’s?
To me, there is not any difference because when you are proud of what you are, you can work wherever you want. Stupid and boring rubbish details are everywhere so it’s up to you to manage them the better way you believe. But I also think that there is something more important than that.
Maybe, she feels that being a hairdresser does not match her appearance of being a “proper student”, an interesting wise woman, who does not care about a room full of junk as a hairdresser could be to her and in which she was surrounded by old ladies.
Now, she loves working in a bistro because she meets other students who are passionate about things that matter, just like her.
I believe that Rita is keeping up appearances; she is doing what people expect her to do. That’s why she cannot work as a hairdresser anymore.

“…I can do things on me own more now…”

It is startling to see how Rita’s personal development has increased. She dares to speak her mind when talking about books with Literature students she meets on the lawn. She is able to understand literature and write essays without consulting Frank all the time. But why does she change her way of speaking?
I think that Rita doesn’t want to leave a trail of what she was; even in her way of speaking. It seems that she is trying to imitate what she called “the proper students” at the beginning of the play, those who she wanted to be when she decided to study.
In turn, Frank finds it difficult to cope with this “new” Rita.
First of all, it is because he wants her to be the spontaneous girl he met, with her flaws and virtues. Secondly, when he finds out that the opinions in her essays are merely objective ones, because they don’t follow her instincts but they are led by different authors she read to make an opinion.
Frank is partly responsible for what has happened. He has asked Rita to be objective when writing or speaking about literature and not to involve her feelings when she had to give an opinion. That’s what Rita has done.

Ladies and Gentleman…this is Rita….!!

Rita has come back from London; she has been at the Summer School so she seems to be renewed. She has met new people, visited theatres and pubs and she has also been immersed in her work.

Rita has changed a lot during this time and Frank can see how her character and attitude show a different woman. She has dared to talk in public without caring less what people thought about her.

It was not in vain when Innocence and Experience by Blake is quoted in the play by the author. I believe that it shows how the experience of doing new things drives away the very spontaneity (innocence) Rita could express through her behaviour at the beginning of the play.
Frank, who was greatly surprised at her changes, did not seem to be glad to see Rita looking so well. Maybe, he felt he got stuck and Rita has developed into a secure woman, the one who feels good about herself.

Now, she was not an innocent girl anymore and it seemed she could spread her wings and fly wherever she wanted. The experience of being alone in London has helped her become more independent than she was and it has also helped her lose the innocence that led her to meet Frank

I want to change everything

After having been invited to Frank’s dinner party, Rita finally decided not to go to his house.
First of all, her husband did not go with her and they had a big fight about that. In spite of this, Rita decided to go there all the same. As she arrived to Frank’s house, she could see them from outside the house that Frank and his guests were enjoying the dinner, laughing and talking. So she came back to the pub where her family was.
To Rita, everything was a problem; she did not know how to dress up to go to the party or what wine they would like them.
I think that Rita was not prepared to join in another group of people that wouldn’t be her family or her “community”.
Although Frank showed her other strengths she had, it was not enough for her, and that is what made her finally say the reason for not going to the party.
Maybe, she made excuses for not saying what she really felt about it. She felt that, after all, everybody was going to laugh at her because of her way of speaking and behaving.
I think that when you are not satisfied with yourself, with your whole life, you do not feel well anywhere except when you do something you really like and want to.
It is better for Rita to continue looking inside her for the change she needs to be happier.