How many quotations should I be using in my essays?

When you write an essay, you only need to use quotations which are necessary - there is no point in filling out an essay with quotations that don't do anything. Everything within the essay needs to be relevant to the question, and your answer to it. This being said, you should never make a point without using a quotation. The structure of an essay should be point, evidence, analysis. You make your point (for example; In 'Ulysses, Molly Bloom is presented as a character of sexual promiscutiy. She is presented to the reader in her bed, alongside ‘the loose brass quoits of the bedstead’. The use of the word 'loose' parallels her supposedly loose morals and the use of her bed as her introductory space reinforces this idea.)  You only need to use a quote to support your point, and to lend to analyses. The main bulk of what you write should not be quotations, it should instead be your analysis.