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Act 2 Scene 4. Summary Rita changes jobs. Frank is still drinking. He is increasingly jealous of Rita and Tiger. He gives Rita his poems to write an essay on. Act 2 Scene 4. Note down all the things that upset Frank in this scene. Act 2 Scene 4.
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Act 2 Scene 4 Summary • Rita changes jobs. • Frank is still drinking. • He is increasingly jealous of Rita and Tiger. • He gives Rita his poems to write an essay on.
Act 2 Scene 4 • Note down all the things that upset Frank in this scene.
Act 2 Scene 4 • Rita has left the hairdressers and now works in a bistro. • She says she is fed up of talking “irrelevant rubbish” and can now talk about “what’s important.” • The change in jobs is part of Rita’s metamorphosis into an entirely different character. • She has been spending more and more time with Tiger and the other students.
Act 2 Scene 4 Frank • Frank’s apparent jealousy over Tiger makes him sound insecure and childish. • “Perhaps you don’t want to waste your time coming here anymore?” • He feels like he is ‘losing’ Rita and is a pathetic figure, wallowing in his own misery. • He continues to drink heavily.
Act 2 Scene 4 Find quotations to prove the following; • Rita disapproves of Frank’s drinking. • She enjoys spending time with the other students so much she doesn’t always have time for Frank. • Her exam is still important to her. • Why do you think Frank gives her his poetry to criticise?
Act 2 Scene 4 • Frank is testing her, to see if she really does know what ‘matters’. • He wants to see if Rita has lost the ability to respond openly and honestly. • He is afraid she has become cold and subjective like the other students he despises so much. • “No sentimentality, no subjectivity. Just pure criticism.”
Act 2 Scene 5 Summary • Rita is full of praise for Frank’s poetry. • Frank dismisses her and her opinions as worthless. • Their relationship is breaking down.
Act 2 Scene 5 • “Oh I’ve done a fine job on you, haven’t I? Mary, Mary Shelley – do you understand that allusion, Rita? • “What’s up Frank, don’t y’ like me now that little girl’s grown up, now that y’ can no longer bounce me on daddy’s knee an’ watch me stare back in wide-eyed wonder at everything he has to say?” • “Found a culture have you Rita? Found a better song to sing have you? No – you’ve found a different song, that’s all – and on your lips it’s shrill and hollow and tuneless.”
Act 2 Scene 5 • Rita describes Frank’s poems as “brilliant”, “witty”, “profound” and “full of style”. • Frank’s view is in stark contrast; “…worthless, talentless shit and should be recognised as such by anyone with a shred of common sense.” • He notes that Rita, on her first visits would have said exactly the same. • He feels that, like Mary Shelley, writer of Frankenstein, he has created his own monster.
Act 2 Scene 5 • He describes his own poems as “pretentious, characterless and without style.” • He is suggesting that the new Rita, who admires them so much, possesses the same qualities. • He sees the new her as worthless. • “You’ve found a different song…and on your lips it’s shrill and hollow and tuneless.”
Act 2 Scene 5 RITA • She tells Frank she no longer needs him. • She now knows “what clothes to wear”, “what wine to buy, what plays to see…” • Nobody calls her Rita anymore. • The change in name seals the metamorphosis of her character. • Instead of playing at being different, Rita has finally found her true self – she no longer needs to hide behind a new name and accepts that she is Susan.
Act 2 Scene 6 Summary • Time has passed. • Frank calls Rita/Susan to remind her about the exam. • What is the purpose of this short scene? • What does it tell us about Frank’s feelings for Rita?
Act 2 Scene 6 • The telephone call show that, since his last meeting with Rita, Frank has had time to consider his words and actions. • He has come to the realisation that Rita should have the opportunity to sit her exam. • He is unable to accept her change of name because it represents her change in character.
Act 2 Scene 7 Summary • Frank is leaving for Australia. • A new confident Rita emerges. • Frank gives Rita the present of the dress.
Act 2 Scene 7 • What has Rita learned from Trish’s suicide? • What do we learn about Frank’s feelings for Rita in this last scene? • Frank is a good teacher... FOR AGAINST
Act 2 Scene 7 • Lighting a cigarette marks a partial return to Rita’s old ways. • We have evidence that Rita/Susan has matured into a confident and articulate woman who is finally at ease with herself. • She can now truly be herself. • Education has provided her with the ability to choose her own destiny, rather than having her life mapped out by others. • “I might go to France. I might go to my mother’s. I might even have a baby. I dunno. I’ll make a decision. I’ll choose.”
Act 2 Scene 7 • Frank has the chance of a fresh start in Australia. • His love for Rita becomes clear as he shows he has remembered her words and bought her a gift of a new dress. • There are distinct sexual overtones at the end of the play. • “I never thought there was anything I could give you. But there is. Come here, Frank...”
