How to compare Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Emma

I'm currently doing my AQA A2 English Literature coursework, comparing texts. The books I've chosen are Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Emma by Jane Austen. My theme is going to be based around the main protagonists Emma and Tess and I want to do something about class and the theme of manipulation, but I'm unsure of a title or statement to start with. I'm also a little stuck on the comparisons I can draw between the two women, could anyone help me out, especially with reference to the themes of class and manipulation.

The differences seem clear enough - Tess'background makes her more vulnerable and she is easily manipulated by the people who are supposed to love her (her parents, Angel, Alec). Emma on the other hand is spoilt, vain and wealthy, and is in a position where she is able to manipulate others for her own amusement, even when it is clear that this manipulation of others is not for the good (her bad matchmaking attempts, pushing people to pursue someone who isn't interested and ignoring the person who really loves her because he is not seen as good enough).

I'm really really stuck and any help would be much appreciated!

That's really helpful! I spoke to my teacher today and it's much clearer now I think. Thanks so much!

did you find any material??

Hmm, it might help if you tried to look not just at the two main protagonists and their differences, but also at the background story. I can only give you examples from Emma, I'm afraid, as I never got round to reading Tess (ahem ), but for example, class in Emma isn't as fixed as you might think by only looking at Emma: there is a great deal of class uncertainty as well. Think about characters like Frank Churchill, who was adopted by a rich family when he was young (so where exactly does that place him in terms of class?). Then there's Jane Fairfax, who is initially in a very vulnerable position, because she's poor but can't work for a living, so she's dependant on being patronised - in more than one sense - by people like Mrs Elton, Mrs and Miss Bates, who clearly didn't always have such a low social status, and of course Harriet Smith, whose parents could be anybody, and who consequently doesn't really belong to a particular class. Throughout the novel, people only make assumptions about Harriet's class depending on the situation (cf for example Emma's and Knightley's disagreement about whether Harriet would be marrying up or marrying down by accepting Mr Martin's proposal), and the reason why Mr Elton would never dream of marrying her is because he's class-conscious and Harriet's class status isn't clearly defined. Isn't anxiety and uncertainty about class also a motif in Tess?

Anyway, good luck with your essay.