Although Rita stands in contrast to Eliza, they share so many similarities that one could support the statement that “Rita is a modern day Eliza”. Both Rita and Eliza rebel against the inflexible class system and have problems developing their potential. They suggest that everyone is capable of fulfilling his potential if he is only given the opportunity. And their teachers and other members of their class misunderstand them. Furthermore they reject the traditional role of women as well.
Concerning their characters, Rita and Eliza are intelligent, quick to learn and with a strong individuality. In order to become educated, the have to make sacrifices: Eliza has to give up her accent and Rita loses her spontaneity and originality. They also become alienated from their working class backgrounds, for they advance socially through acquiring education. Unlike Rita, Eliza didn’t want to change her character. Rita, on the other hand, had dreamed of becoming a completely different person.
Consequently, when Rita is happy after passing her exam, whereas Eliza is feels lost between two worlds, neither belonging to the working class nor the middle class. As to the relationship with their teachers, both students become more self-confident and their teachers become dependent on them, be it in a materialistic or personal way. Yet it is Eliza who complains about Higgins ignorance and carelessness whereas Frank reproaches Rita for her superficiality.
At the end Eliza has regained her pride and improved her standard of living although Eliza remaining a social misfit. Rita has achieved her original aims, namely personal freedom. In my opinion, Rita is a modern Eliza. Eliza accidentally meets Higgins and leaves him. In Rita’s days, class differences are still there, but education is made possible to the masses. She seizes the opportunities Eliza would have been dreaming of. Rita is a modern type of Eliza because she enters the OU purposefully.
