• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Is Jane Eyre INFP?

KLessard

Aspiring Troens Ridder
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
595
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
1w2
I wanted to know what type of idealist Charlotte Brontë's character Jane Eyre is. Seems like INFP to me. What do you think? :unsure: Might be INFJ as well.
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Haven't read it in a long time, but yeah that sounds right.

Refusing to marry the rich guy because his crazy wife was still alive screams Fi.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I wanted to know what type of idealist Charlotte Brontë's character Jane Eyre is. Seems like INFP to me. What do you think?

No. INFJ, for sure. She cared much too much about social propriety.

In fact, it is the commonly held opinion that Charlotte Bronte herself was an INFJ and Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights was an INFP.
 

michL87

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
41
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w3
I think Jane Eyre is an INFJ.

And yes, just judging from the books Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, it would make sense that Charlotte would be INFJ and Emily an INFP.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
Viewed in historical perspective and reading all her introspections in the book, Jane is INFP not INFJ.

In the movies, she's usually played as INFJ. It's all in her reasons for giving him up. (They were not based on cultural values but the values of her own heart and the lack of respect shown her, the dishonesty that she'd have to engage in.)

As far as her being INFJ just because the author is thought to be INFJ, it's very hard to write a well rounded character based on one's exact personality, in fact this is called a biographical trap or something like that. It would make more sense that she'd create the more dynamic character played off her dear beloved sister who probably also drove her to distraction at times.

And Emily makes Cathy in WH a ENFJ.

Sisterly love captured for all time in great characters that live on and on.
 

JivinJeffJones

New member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
3,702
MBTI Type
INFP
I thought Helen Burns was a clearer INFP than Jane Eyre. Helen Burns was the friend at Lowood School who died of consumption. The one who had to hang a sign saying "slattern" around her neck at one point.
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Nah, Helen was ISFJ. She put up with way too much shit just because the societal standards of the time expected her to.

Idealistic INFP would not put up with that for long.
 

JivinJeffJones

New member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
3,702
MBTI Type
INFP
Nah, Helen was ISFJ. She put up with way too much shit just because the societal standards of the time expected her to.

Idealistic INFP would not put up with that for long.

It's been a fair few years since I last read the book, but from memory she put up with everything she did because of her own (Christian) ideals, not because of the societal standards of the time. If my memory isn't misleading me, ISFJ is a bit of a ridiculous call for her.
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Well, you could be right...I don't remember the details that well.
 

NewEra

New member
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
3,104
MBTI Type
I
From what I remember reading, she was definitely an INFx. Couldn't tell you J or P.
 

Sizzling Berry

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
185
MBTI Type
INFP
I'm betting Jane is INFP. This passage always kills me - it's so infpish.

"(Mr Rochester) And will you consent to dispense with a great many conventional
forms and phrases, without thinking that the omission arises from
insolence?

(Jane) I am sure, sir, I should never mistake informality for insolence:
one I rather like, the other nothing free-born would submit to,
even for a salary."

Oh those statemsnts with "everybody would" and "nobody would ever" - value-based Fi, not seeking inner structure and understanding Ni.

And Mr Rochester grounds her just right:
"Humbug! Most things free-born will submit to anything for a salary;
therefore, keep to yourself, and don't venture on generalities of
which you are intensely ignorant.(...)"
 

Sizzling Berry

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
185
MBTI Type
INFP
And had to check Helen Burns - to me she comes off as INFJ - deeply compassionate, but with mind of her own. This is what she has to say to Jane about Mr. Brocklehurst - the cruel boss of the school (this is offered as consolation).
"Mr. Brocklehurst is not a god: nor is he even a great and admired
man: he is little liked here; he never took steps to make himself
liked. Had he treated you as an especial favourite, you would
have found enemies, declared or covert, all around you; as it is,
the greater number would offer you sympathy if they dared."

Pretty brave and insightful for such a young girl. Fe makes her harmonize with people around her, but in her heart she knows what's going on (Ni).
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
^ An Fe wouldn't have gotten in so bad with the school when she first arrived. :D
 

Sizzling Berry

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
185
MBTI Type
INFP
^ An Fe wouldn't have gotten in so bad with the school when she first arrived. :D

So true - and she wouldn't jump at her aunt as she did

"I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed (...). I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty."

All right no more quotes ;) - love the book. And that part gave me chills.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
Another point: Why do people assume the difference between Burns and Jane is between P and J...why not T and F? Helen Burns could well be a female IxTP.

She and Jane argue about the need for love from others. She says she can do without it but Jane says she needs love from those who matter most to her. That's certainly in line with INFP and could well be a discussion between IFP and ITP.

Also this sounds to me more Fi than Fe:


"I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty."

"How dare you affirm that, Jane Eyre?"

"How dare I, Mrs. Reed ? How dare I ? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back— roughly and violently thrust me back—into the red-room, and locked me up there, to my dying day, though I was in agony, though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, 'Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!' And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me —knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!"

Ere I had finished this reply my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt. It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and-that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty. Not without cause was this sentiment; Mrs. Reed looked frightened; her work had slipped from her knee; she was lifting up her hands, rocking herself to and fro, and even twisting her face as if she would cry.


I was left there alone—winner of the field. It was the hardest battle I had fought, and the first victory I had gained. I stood awhile on the rug, where Mr. Brocklehurst had stood, and I enjoyed my conqueror's solitude. First, I smiled to myself and felt elate; but this fierce pleasure subsided in me as fast as did the accelerated throb of my pulses. A child cannot quarrel with its elders, as I had done; cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine; without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill 6f reaction.
 

wren

New member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Messages
384
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
4
I'm reading Jane Eyre for the first time right now (shh...no spoilers please, or at least give me warning) would love to read your discussion about the types in the book. To me JE, I mean the author Charlotte Bronte, seems intellectual (4w5 or 5w4) infp no doubt.

Wow! what a novel!
 

Sizzling Berry

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
185
MBTI Type
INFP
Heart aren't we of the same mind about the quotes :D

As to Helen Burns hmmm I feel I must investigate more.
 

LadyJaye

Scream down the boulevard
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
2,062
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Jane is definitely an INFP. And Mr. Rochester is an INTJ.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
So true - and she wouldn't jump at her aunt as she did

"I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed (...). I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty."

All right no more quotes ;) - love the book. And that part gave me chills.

But her aunt was an abusive piece of shit who deserved to be jumped at.
 
Top