In Stags and Hens and Educating Rita, both by Willy Russell, we get a satirical look at life, love, education and gender relations. We also get a view of social stratification based on economics and class. There are also quite a few observations on marriage versus sex as well as drinking. In Stags and Hens, we follow a group of women and men as they celebrate the traditional bachelor and bachelorette parties held by men and women for generations. The actions occur primarily in the Water Closet of a dance club. Within the play we see many values expressed about the morals, customs, dispositions, and stark realities of modern day England and its people. One of the biggest realities we see is the sharp contrast between the genders. The girls in the play are primarily preoccupied with thoughts of men, for men seem to represent the one means they have of escaping a stifling existence with little education, talent or money. At the beginning of the play, the women are talking about how lucky Linda is that she has found a man. Not only has she found a man but also she has found a man who will be different than the types of men her friends are married to. However, all these women seem to use to define their own voice, image and identity is the prospect of a man, “Just imagine Lind, after tomorrow you’ll have your own flat, your own feller. You’ll be a married woman” (Russell 189). The women who have a husband regret that Linda will be getting a man who is better than theirs, “My feller doesn’t. Wouldn’t lift a bloody finger. He wouldn’t get out of that chair if the roof was comin’ through” (Russell 190). The women who are not married imagine Linda is getting the man they idealize and cannot find for themselves. As Maureen says before she cries, “I’ll be he even helps when the little ones come” (Russell 190). In England, it appears a woman is still defined by her husband or lack of one. Those that h...