Q: Pages froze up on me as I tried to email myself the essay I completed

Hi FatStephCurry,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. Based on what you stated, it sounds like Pages froze. I would recommend that you read these articles, they may be helpful in troubleshooting your issue.

Force an app to close on your Mac - Apple Support

If an app is unresponsive, you can force it to close using Force Quit

You can try to atttach the document in Mail instead of sharing through Pages. 

Mail (Yosemite): Add attachments

Cheers,

Mario