Shakespearean Characters MBTI (Two plays at a time currently, but feel free to add)

[FalseHeartDothKnow]

There are of course, various interpretations of a character depending on which versions you see, but perhaps it's worth having a crack at this anyway...Minor characters are hard as well

Macbeth

Witches (collective) INTP/INTJ/INFP
Macbeth: INTP/INTJ (though maybe his N is just Shakespeare's N because he doesn't catch on to his wife's wordplay straight away in Act 1 Scene 5)
Lady Macbeth: ESFJ/ENFJ
Duncan: INFJ
Banquo: ISFJ
Fleance: Not sure
Macduff ESTJ/ESFJ?
Lady Macduff: ISFJ/ISTJ
The Macduff child: ENFJ
Malcolm: INTJ
Donalbain INFP

Romeo and Juliet
Romeo: INFP
Juliet: INFP/ISFJ
Mercutio ENTP
Nurse ESFP/ISFP???
Benvolio: INFP
Tybalt ESTJ/ISTJ/ENTJ???
Lady Capulet ESFJ
Lord Capulet:ESTJ
Friar Laurence: INFJ/ISFJ

 

[KDude]

Hamlet - ENFJ
Richard III - INTJ
Shylock - ISTJ?

 

[ZPowers]

Hamlet as an E and a J? He doesn't really talk, at least honestly or very willingly, to anyone except Horatio and that's pretty rare. Instead, he plots and plans entirely on his own. And the entire play is basically him running around having no idea what to do or whether to act at all. "To be or not to be", have to say, is pretty not J. He's either INTP or INFP, in my eyes.

 

[KDude]

Ok, he doesn't talk to PEOPLE much, but I mean, he is the epitomy of soliquoy and dramatic speeches (despite it just being him talking to himself.. but.. whatever ). I think he also captures the ups and lows of an ENFJ.

He can give quite the speech to people though (like in the theater scene).

 

[miss fortune]

I always got the feeling that he was a depressed extrovert from some of his behavioral quirks in a way... it's amazing how morbid a depressed extrovert can be

 

[KDude]

I'm more curious if I have agreement on Shylock. Talk about a guy who won't budge on the smallest infraction.

 

[miss fortune]

I've only read Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello (that's the one I know the best) and Romeo and Juliet... so no Shylock

However... I'd say that Othello was probably an SJ and Iago an NT... best guesses ESTJ and INTJ

 

[ZPowers]

Ok, he doesn't talk to PEOPLE much, but I mean, he is the epitomy of soliquoy and dramatic speeches (despite it just being him talking to himself.. but.. whatever )

By this standard, no major Shakespearean characters are Introverts (especially not dramatic leads).

I've read Much Ado About Nothing, All's Well That Ends Well, MacBeth, Othello (probably my favorite), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream (actually in a production of this) and The Tempest (also in a production of this). So I'm also out on Shylock. My knowledge of him is too peripheral and incomplete.

 

[miss fortune]

I'm quite familiar with ExxJs giving soliloquies

and theater then usually included a lot of things of that sort didn't it?

 

[KDude]

For the record, I'm going off the socionics description..which compares them to Hamlet (literally). EIE

That said, enfjs can get pretty withdrawn, I think. Even by MBTI terms, it's said they need a lot of time alone, and might turn to dark thoughts. The only ENFJ I know well is like this. She's a psychologist of all things too... and yet, she secretly tells me she "hates people".

 

[ZPowers]

I'm quite familiar with ExxJs giving soliloquies

As in, you know ExxJs who tell you flat out about how much they talk to themselves? Because if you are there, or at least if they know you are, it's not a soliloquy.

That said, ExxJs may well give soliloquies. but saying

"Ok, he doesn't talk to PEOPLE much, but I mean, he is the epitomy of soliquoy and dramatic speeches"

as an argument for Hamlet being an E makes it sound as though soliloquies are exclusively, or at least mostly, the providence of Es. If that's true, forget classing Iago, MacBeth, or most of Shakespeare's other leads as Introverts: they all soliloquize right and left.

I feel soliloquies are useful for determining type due to their content, but not really based on the fact that a character does or does not give them.

 

[miss fortune]

I was just pointing it out... not saying that it's exclusive... I collect ESFJ friends and have an ENFJ sister... all of them will talk to themselves when left alone (or when they don't realize that I'm there yet)

 

[Killjoy]

I was just pointing it out... not saying that it's exclusive... I collect ESFJ friends and have an ENFJ sister... all of them will talk to themselves when left alone (or when they don't realize that I'm there yet)

I still have a few ESFJs stored in the freezer from when I stocked up on rations during that whole Y2K scare.

They're compact, delicious and have no expiration date.

 

[chihuahuasrluv]

By this standard, no major Shakespearean characters are Introverts (especially not dramatic leads).

I've read Much Ado About Nothing, All's Well That Ends Well, MacBeth, Othello (probably my favorite), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream (actually in a production of this) and The Tempest (also in a production of this). So I'm also out on Shylock. My knowledge of him is too peripheral and incomplete.

Much Ado About Nothing? I loved that! :hi:

I'd love to see what types Benedick, Beatrice, and the rest of the cast would get

 

[Ratsimoan]

Hamlet - ENFJ
Richard III - INTJ
Shylock - ISTJ?

Hamlet- no E. infj or infp

 

[Lotr246]

Hamlet- no E. infj or infp

It's either one of these. He's focused on his ideals throughout the whole thing.

 

[KDude]

.. He definitely contemplates a lot, but almost everyone does that, don't they? At the very least, an ENFJ is the closest type to INFJ in functions, right? I think Hamlet, be it when he's sullen or affectionate, tends to have so much smothering Fe and over-the-top behavior that he's unbelievable. And those ideals he does have are all about improving other people..be it his mother, his friends, or all of Denmark..but he goes about it in less unreserved way than an introvert would.


I'll cut this short, but he also has that ExFJ "good host" thing down pat too

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkhuL1lsWKc&feature=related].[/youtube]

 

[magpie]

I know this thread is old but I feel like there's a fundamental misunderstanding of the function of Hamlet's monologues throughout the play. Hamlet is playing at madness. He's pretending, and he mentions this several times:

"I am but mad north-north-west, when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."

"How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on),
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall—
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As “Well, well, we know,” or “We could an if we would,”
Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be an if they might,”
Or such ambiguous giving out—to note
That you know aught of me. This not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
Swear."

Obviously there's enough ambiguity to make it interesting. To make the audience wonder as well whether or not Hamlet truly is mad. But the audience is always a character of its own in Shakespeare's plays, and if the audience wasn't rather uncertain it really would be a poor antic. At the same time, Hamlet kills Polonius. He is grieving terribly for the death of his father and keenly feeling what he considers to be his mother's betrayal, since she married his uncle. And he has seen the ghost of his father, who has ordered him to take revenge. Hamlet is emotional, but smart. He knows he's in a tough spot and is being watched. He needs to find out a way to gather information and disarm people, make them underestimate him at the same time. And there is, of course, a lot of inner turmoil and a lot of uncertainty.

If you pay attention to "to be or not to be," Hamlet is not alone on stage during this monologue. Polonius and Claudius are on stage as well, and are spying on him. Ophelia is there as well. Hamlet knows he's being watched. So why would Hamlet give this monologue in this context? What's his motivation? What is he trying to do or get?

In terms of MBTI, since this is a type me thread and not a play analysis thread, I would go with INFJ for Hamlet, most likely.

 

[bilbotook]

Romeo-ESFP
Juliet-ENFP
Friar Laurence-ESFJ
Nurse-ESFJ
Capulet-ESTP
Benvolio-ESFJ
Mercutio-ENTP
Paris-ESFP
Prince-ISTJ
Tybalt-EST?