Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennet (ENTP)

Note: This typing is based solely on the original book. The movie versions of Elizabeth Bennet may (or may not) have a slightly different personality type, and therefore may not be consistent with this typing.

Ne:

“Elizabeth loved absurdities, but she had known Sir William’s too long. He could tell her noth-ing new of the wonders of his presentation and knighthood; and his civilities were worn out, like his information.”

“‘The PRESENT always occupies you in such scenes—does it?’ said he, with a look of doubt.‘Yes, always,’ she replied, without knowing what she said, for her thoughts had wandered far from the subject.”

Elizabeth is known for having a “lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.” She’s clearly very spirited and energetic, appearing to fit the classic mold of an extraverted perceiver. In the middle of action, she is not always fully present, and allows her mind to distract her, which can suggest an intuitive. She’s shown to have a lively imagination, speculating, and plays varying futures out in her mind. An example can be seen when she visits the Collins’, and anticipates “how her visit would pass, the quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious interruptions of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse with Rosings.” The broad nature of this future visualization in which she envisions multiple facets of her trip, down to mundane matters like Mr. Collins interrupting suggests Ne/Si.

Elizabeth is excited by new things, and new information. She’s specifically noted to love “absurdities”, which suggests Ne. In addition, the way she argues with Lady Katherine at Longbourne (over potentially being engaged to Darcy) seems to portray Ne rather well. She turns the entire discussion into a series of hypotheticals and “if” statements, refusing to answer any specific question outright for as long as she possibly can.

Ti:

“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appear-ance of merit or sense.”

“I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, DO divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without.”

Elizabeth is prone to debating and banter, as Ne-Ti users tend to be known for. While she pays close attention to decorum and societal rules, she frequently yields to her more critical and sarcastic nature. She mocks and sneaks subtle insults into her dialogue, when she feels like the subject is deserving. Additionally, Darcy comments at one point that she gains great enjoyment from occasionally uttering opinions that are not her own, which just emphasizes her desire to rile people, or play “devil’s advocate.”

Many people believe that Elizabeth is a feeler. However, the book calls out multiple times that she doesn’t tend to dwell on negative thoughts, emotions, or whatever is vexing her. This suggests that she’s suppressing her feeling function to a certain degree.

Lastly, the way in which she built up prejudices against Darcy and then specifically had them all torn down appeared Ti in nature. She rejects everything she hears that does not fit into her own prejudiced perspective. She accounts for these ‘unaccountables’ as lies or falsehoods. Upon receiving the letter, she’s shown instantly putting the letter down and wanting to reject its contents. Eventually, she’s shown having to recalculate everything related to this matter, including not only her perspective of Darcy but her perspective of herself.

Fe:

“‘I heard you before, but I could not immediately determine what to say in reply. You wanted me, I know, to say ‘Yes,’ that you might have the pleasure of despising my taste; but I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of their premeditated contempt. I have, therefore, made up my mind to tell you, that I do not want to dance a reel at all—and now despise me if you dare.”

Elizabeth is certainly aware of social norms, and very careful about maintaining a good reputation. She scolds her family members for acting improperly, even in public if need be, albeit carefully. She will hold back laughter when she realizes it will offend, and she’ll change the subject matter of a discussion in order to prevent embarrassment. However, as many tertiary Fe users, she does enjoy riling people to a certain degree, and sometimes struggles to hold back her more critical nature. However, she is aware enough to remove herself from the situation if temptation is too great. (Example being when the newly married Lydia and Wickham are visiting, and she just walks out of the room.) Elizabeth also gains enjoyment from not doing what people expect. She quite a few times explains openly what someone wants her to do, yet declares how that makes her want to do the opposite.

Si:

“‘I can much more easily believe Mr. Bingley’s being imposed on, than that Mr. Wickham should invent such a history of himself as he gave me last night; names, facts, everything mentioned without ceremony.”

“What are young men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we DO return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We WILL know where we have gone—we WILL recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative situation. Let OUR first effusions be less insupportable than those of the gener-ality of travellers.”

Elizabeth’s inferior Si comes out in a couple of different ways, the first being the way Wickham wins her over to his story. She emphasizes the detailed nature of his tale, including names, facts and etc. She claims that it would be unlikely that he could invent such a thing. Additionally, when Elizabeth is invited to go sightseeing with her Aunt, she describes an excitement over them being able to later recollect the events, rather than excitement over the prospect of sightseeing itself. This emphasis suggests her being an Si user rather than an Se user. She’s also shown at various times through the book being able to recall certain conversations and dialogue exactly rather than just the general idea (like very specific comments that Charlotte had made or her conversations with Wickham).