Brit Sem...Taking shape

Leaving Alfred behind for the moment, I have two major authors who I am going to toss around in this essay. On the one side I have Charles Dickens who, for my purposes, serves as a moralist of the Victorian social order. Gertrude Himmelfarb has my back on this one in The De-Moralization of Society. On the other hand I have Thomas Hardy with Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'Urbervilles. In terms of morality and lining these two into an overarching argument of morals marriage and the position of women I see two choices. I can argue that they are opposed to each other, that Hardy truly "shakes his fist at God or society" as some of his contemporaries cried or that underneath it all the same morality that underlies Dickens, which is pointed out by Himmelfarb, beats as strong as ever. I would tend to lean toward the latter though I'm not sure if either of Dickens or Himmelfarb would be inclined to agree. Tough for them.

So current structure:
1 Set up Alfred and family
2 Alfred's life as an aspiring teacher (monitor to pupil-teacher to training college to certificate)
3 With Dickens and the importance of a serious-minded approach to marriage as portrayed in David Copperfield
4 Interlude of Alfred's sister Mary to lead into a brief discussion of London poor and prostitution issues to lead into section of Tess of the D'Urbervilles
5 Alfred ponders marrying as he reads Jude the Obscure at which point I could make the moralist arguments outlined above.
6 Wrap it up and slap a bow on it.