Writing the Essay

I'm looking for some very specific parameters here.  They are:
          1)  No more than three pages.
                 Times New Roman, 12 or 10.  1" margins on sides.  0.8" margin on top; 0.6" margin on bottom (or 1" all around is fine).
          2)  Six paragraphs.
                 A.  Introduction.
                     1.  The introduction should conclude with a strong, well-defined  which serves as the guidepost as to where you are headed in your analysis.  This should be contained in one sentence.
                     2.  This thesis must be underlined.  (This may seem like very basic stuff, and it is.  Show me that you can handle the basics, and then we can start to get somewhere.)
                     3.  Remember, I am not your audience.  Your audience is anonymous, yet somewhat literary.  They may need a quick brush up on who Hedda and Eustacia are, and where they come from, as well as where you will be taking this essay.
                 B.  The body of the essay, which will consist of four paragraphs.  Two will be devoted to Hedda, and two will be devoted to Eustacia.
                      1.  Keep it simple!  Don't try to do too much in a paragraph.  Start each paragraph with a topic sentence.  (Remember those?  Not enough people do, believe me.)  The paragraph that follows should illustrate/demonstrate/prove the contention/observation that you made about the character in your topic sentence.
                      2.  There should be a thread, emanating from your thesis, that runs through and ties together these four paragraphs.
                  C.  The conclusion.  Here's where you review (in brief) the arguments that you have made in the body of the paper.  Think of it like the summation for the jury at the end of the trial.  You're reinforcing the important points that you want them to remember.
                      1.  The biggest mistake that people make in the concluding paragraph -- NO NEW MATERIAL SHALL BE INTRODUCED IN THE CONCLUSION.
          3)  At the end of the paper, attach the outline that you used to organize your paper.  I cannot stress enough the importance of good organization to a successful essay, and that requires pre-writing.  Remember, an essay is like an iceberg.  The reader only sees the top fifth of it.  For every hour you spend writing the essay, you should spend four hours in thinking and planning.
          4)  If you want more advice on constructing a solid academic essay, there's a wealth of material over at my THS webpage.  [Note: It's entirely possible that this page will disappear over the summer.  If it does, let me know.]
          5)  Remember, use the Literary Present Tense when writing about events that transpire during the course of the works in question.

TOPICS!

[Note: A topic is not a thesis.  A topic is where you go to start looking for your thesis.]

1.  "A Woman Confined"

          Eustacia is confined by the Heath.  She'd love to get to Paris, or even back to Budmouth.  She's confined by the rural society that is so different from where she grew up.  Hedda is confined by her home, by Christiana (the city where she lives), and especially by the society in which she lives.

2.  "A Woman Out of Place"

           Generally readers do not like these characters.  (I happen to like both of them, but there you go.)  But take a look at how these women behave.  (And don't forget that Eustacia -- a good ten years or so younger than Hedda -- is more a girl than a woman.)  How might these women's personal qualities result in very different lives if they lived in more progressive times?  (Watch out with this one!  Don't leave the original works behind when you start hypothesizing.)

3.  "Torn Between Two Men"

           Both Eustacia and Hedda marry, for reasons that make sense to them at the time.  But things don't quite work out as they plan.  And then into the picture come suitors from the past.  How do these relationships effect the motivation and behavior of these two women?