How should I approach a comparative essay question such as, ‘Women characters are presented primarily as those who suffer and endure.’ By comparing two prose texts, explore the extent to which you agree with this statement.

When approaching any essay question you must first take into account the key words in the question, I like to highlight them to keep them at the forefront of my mind while I'm writing! Here you are being asked to COMPARE two texts, and EXPLORE the extent to which you agree with a statement. Therefore, it is firstly important to include direct comparisons between the ways in which the two texts present the theme in the question (women suffering), this could be through their style, language techniques, structure, contexual background or form. It is simply important that you COMPARE, it doesn't matter whether you discuss similarities or differences between the texts. Secondly, you are asked to explore whether you agree with the statement, so you should decide what your stance is ultimately and that will be what you will build your argument around. Keep checking throughout your writing that you are comparing the texts and forming your argument either for or against the statement in the question and you can't go far wrong.
Although there are many ways to structure comparative essays, one that examiners seem to like and one that makes it easy to hit your assessment objectives is to form each paragraph around a central idea, and discuss how both writers' work relates to that idea. For example if I had studied 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Wuthering Heights' and wanted to agree that women are primarily depicted as those who suffer and endure, I would choose three or four examples of ways in which women suffer in these novels and consider central ideas or techniques that link them. Each central idea is the base for each point I am going to write. Say I choose 'women are victims of physical violence and pain' as the concept behind my first point, I would analyse the ways in which this theme is present in Gatsby (Myrtle is physically abused and murdered, implications that Daisy is abused by Tom) and then 'Wuthering Heights' (Cathy suffers physically and ultimately dies from her heartache at losing Heathcliffe) and finally bring my analysis into a comparison of what makes these presentations similar/different. I would then continue my essay using the rest of my central ideas to shape points, making sure I am including analysis of language, structure, ideas, form and context.
To sum up: Take note of the key words in the question - what are you being asked to do?Use a central idea or technique to build each point and create a well structured argumentRemember to compare throughout!