Comedy in Educating Rita

Aristotle said that buffoonery is an burlesque of ventureior pot. How far do you think that this applies to the char routineer of Rata in the symbolise Educating Rata? Educating Rata Is a picnic that uses the colloquialism of the m every last(predicate) protagonist, Rata, to create the prank fraction for the audition when she Is being tutored by firedog, an untypical university lecturer who works In the setting of sasss northern England. In interpreting the recordistics of Rata, it can be identified that comedy is indeed an parody of inferior people as highlighted by Aristotle who seemed to signify the inferior of gild as those who werent of royal or noble birth.Including Rata, the two main protagonists of this play could be course of actioned as inferior because of them non belonging where they should. As coarse is a center of attention course of instruction university lecturer, he should be considered a financially comfortable and sophisticated man due to his soc ial conformation. Educated people of his social path were typically expected to visit the theatre and admire sports. They were also expected to watch the BBC, the comment Its all BBC with you Isnt It? portrays Rites Idea of rudes class and the typical actively f his class.As Frank has a problem with intoxication, he Sins the normal middle-class lecturer he Is Instead used to parade the deterioration he sees within the knowledge system of England at this time. Russell uses Franks drunkenness to bring out the comedy in the first act of the play. Franks alcoholic drinkism is humorous to the sense of hearing because of it being so unexpected due to his class and career. In Act One, Frank recites famous classical authors before purpose his alcohol, Where the hell..?Eliot? No. E. E. Dickens. This portrays his apparent loathing for the education system by guggle the literature on his bookshelf to hide his alcohol, only if also establishs the depth of his alcohol problem b ecause of him having to conceal it. He does this by the mocking of classical literary works and he also mocks the students within the education system when discussing the window in his room, Frank says l sometimes get an urge to impel something out of It A student usually.This portrays his distaste for his career and this problem separates him from the substitute of his social class, It on that pointfore classes him as someone who Is Inferior. He could also be considered Inferior because f his aversion to the education system and this causes him to a make opine be unalike from a normal academic figure from sasss England. Rites character has much than one dimension to the contemporary audience. Although the majority of the audience watching this play would have been middle class, they would admire Rata due to her level of endeavor to imbibe an education.This admiration could come from her being a female and the show up of womens lib in the sasss, the popularity of plays s uch as Top Girls by Carry Churchill which had many feminist ideals within it could be linked to aspects of Rites character. Throughout the first act of the play the comedy elements come from Rites misinterpretations. This enhances her work class mind- set to the audience and gives them to a greater extent of an analysis of the comedy within Rata, due to her Interpretations and how they differ from Frank.One of these misinterpretations Is when Frank shows her a picture on the wall that she observes by saying, look at those its, whereas Frank believes it to be beautiful piece of need for a extract within working class life. She is desperate to escape from the normal class of her social group and doesnt feel like she belongs there. She goes against her husband to gain what she wants and wherefore takes power over her have got life, he can burn all me books but he cant burn whats up here shows this to the audience.This choice she will gain separates her from what Aristotle considere d inferior. As Rata progresses to better herself, she also progresses to become more like Frank and middle class, but by the end probably doesnt belong there either, Im a freak signifies her opinion of herself. Rata will never belong in either class, as she is too educated for her deliver class but her lack of an ascribed status creates a difference between her and the middle class.This creates empathy from the audience as she has no real identity she is inferior in twain classes and will never be considered superior. The determination of Rata to progress beyond her own class now changes the mockery once used by the audience towards her character into awe and admiration. Rites lack of real identity is also mother wit as she changes her name to match that of an author before we meet her in Act One. She is borrowing someone elses identity because her own identity is so confused by her non knowing where she belongs.Her choice of author to fabricate her working class name, Rata Mae Brown also creates comedy and a mockery of her class because of this author not being renowned at all in scathe of literary status. This again signifies her lack of belonging within the middle class. In Act Two, Frank himself mocks her for her lack of known identity, What is it now so? Virginia? Or Charlotte? Or Jane? Or Emily? This represents the breakdown of their kin due to Rites cutting status. This significance of Rata having no identity could imply Rata is inferior in her own head, Im a freak, but is still not inferior to the audience.Elder Olson said that comedy resides not in events but in the view taken of them. This suggests that comedy isnt created through the events that occur but in the audiences perception of these events. This applies when Rata quits smoking, perhaps to improve her health, whilst bettering her education. This shows us how serious her intent is on bettering her life and her determination for this and this makes us view her as being superior in te rms of strength and determination.However, in Act Two, after she has gained an insight into academic education through summer school, Rata takes up smoking again, but due to her rise in self-confidence and class, it now seems like a sophisticated element of middle class life. Smoking no longer seems a consumption of the working class, She is wrapped in a large winter coat. She lights a cigarette. Rites change in clothing and the cigarette portray the change in her. The audiences perception of Rata has now changed and signifies her superiority to her former self.This indicates to me that she is not an inferior character in this play. As this play is set in the sasss, the issues presented were more delightful than they are to a modern day audience. One of these issues is the reassureling relationship between Rata and her husband, Denny. Although we never actually meet Denny, the audience can infer his personality wrought Rites description. While Rata wants to gain an education, Den ny wants to settle down and kale a family, l told him Id only have a baby when I had choice.To Rata, this choice is all that matters, and with Denny controlling her, this choice is more limited than ever before. This fount of relationship was not uncommon in the role, especially in working class British society. This means that an audience of that time would find this more socially acceptable, but looking at it from a current perspective, this would be considered wrong due to society being perceived as more equal now. This is also similar with the issue of Franks alcoholism, as this was more original then, now it is considered a social problem within society.The issues presented by Rata show her not to be an inferior character as she removes herself from her controlling pairing and her determination to gain a choice culminates in success. Using a different viewpoint, I believe Rata completely goes against Aristotle theory of comedy being an imitation of inferior people. The char acterization of Rata is not that of someone that is inferior, but is in position someone who is elevated in a higher place the inferior but is not merely considered superior. Her willpower to improve herself does not follow that of someone who would be classed as inferior.The fact she is on the pill again when her husband wants to settle down and buzz off a family shows how independent and strong she is as a woman and she does not allow herself to be controlled. I think an audience at the time the play was written would have admired her need to take control of her own life, even though they would be largely middle class. At the time of the play being written, Margaret Thatcher had Just come into power and she verbalise of attaining more than you were expected to achieve. I think Hess ideals of Margaret Thatcher may have invigorate Wily Russell when creating the protagonist, Rata.Through analyzing Aristotle theory, I can deduct that the character of Rata is not inferior. In fac t I think the determination shown by Rata in the play, leads me to believe that she would be considered superior to a contemporary audience as she elevates herself not only above her own class but also above the middle class through her necessity to better herself. She does not yield to the traits classically portrayed by the middle class and therefore I feel that claiming her as inferior is not doing Rites emotion and character Justice.