Daredevil: Karen Page (ESFP)

Karen Page is one of the main characters in Daredevil. Apparently, popular opinion lists her as an ENFJ, which is partially what drove me to write this article. I’ve seen many instances where female ESFP’s get mistyped as ENFJs. Of course, we did consider other types for Karen Page, but ESFP won out in the end. I hope this makes sense. If you’re interested in reading about other characters from the show, make sure to check out our articles on Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson.

Se:

“We have to do something… I have to do something about this. So don’t tell me to back off, ’cause I won’t.”

Karen Page is tenacious and proactive. In spite of everything she’s gone through, Karen is eager to stay in the action. When she sets her sights on something, she pursues it, no matter the risk or the cost. She refuses to stay on the sidelines, and struggles to slow down. Ben Urich, the reporter she starts working with, frequently berates her for not being cautious enough. For instance, he points out her failure to take simple security measures, like lock the doors. However, it’s not just the little things. Karen constantly takes bigger risks which could lead to serious consequences, such as breaking into the Punisher’s house.

Karen often takes action on her own, without bothering to involve other people or even let them know where she’ll be. She gets an idea in her head, and immediately pursues, without caring what anyone else thinks. Because of this, she’s prone to getting herself involved in dangerous situations, which sometimes she only survives by sheer luck. For instance, she gets attacked by thugs and only escapes unscathed because Foggy happened to be following her that night. Karen has a very act first think later approach to life. This mindset has left her with many impulsive decisions she has lived to regret. From her brother’s death, to killing Wesley, to admitting to Fisk she was the one who murdered him, her impulsive acts are many.

Fi:

“You know I don’t care what I signed or how much money they paid me to forget, I don’t, and I’m not going to just stick my head in the sand and let it happen to somebody else because I am scared. Which I am, a lot.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. Look, if Matt doesn’t want to share his life with me, that is between me and him. The same way that your friendship with Matt is between you and him.”

Karen is incredibly passionate about what she believes in. Her passion and sense of justice drives her every action, making it hard for her to walk away from something that she believes should be pursued. It’s this passion that convinces others to help her, and to adopt her pursuits. For instance, Ben Urich initially is hesitant to get involved, and then later keeps trying to walk away because of the danger involved and the health struggles that his wife is facing. However, he ultimately keeps getting sucked into Karen’s mission, eventually leading to the loss of his job and his life.

Karen tends to get wrapped up in her own feelings, to the point that she is either ignorant or unconcerned with what those around her are going through. This happens on several occasions. In one instance, Matt and Foggy are going through significant interpersonal issues, and Karen basically tells them to get over it because the city needs saving. She doesn’t try to express empathy, or help mediate the conflict. She just tries to dismiss their issues as less important, not wanting to deal with them at all. Generally speaking, she views relationships as personal, and doesn’t think that people should get involved in other people’s relationships.

Te:

“Mrs. Urich, I, I think it’s my fault what happened to Ben, I pushed him into a story that he didn’t want…”

Karen has little issues inserting herself into other people’s lives, and forcing things to happen. This is how she pursues every case she investigates, and how she initially gets a job working at Matt and Ben’s law firm. They don’t offer to hire her; she offers to work for them, and assumes that they’ll go for it. Similarly, she pushes Ben to be involved in her investigation long past the point that he wants to.

In this way, Karen has an intensity about her, an assertiveness, and a controlling nature. When still living at home, Karen is forced to take on an unfair amount of responsibility. Once she finally has an escape, to go to college, and everyone is encouraging her to take it, Karen struggles to release the control that she has and actually pursue her own interests. She believes that without her to manage their family business and finances as she always had, everything would fall apart.

Ni:

“No, my gut is the last thing I can trust. I need facts.”

“What if I’m drawing this stuff my way?”

Karen’s relationship with her Ni is dubious. Life brings a lot of tragedies and trauma her way, which eventually leads her to become paranoid, in a sense. She suggests that perhaps somehow she’s attracting these incidents, like bad luck. Essentially, she uses a weak form of pattern recognition, identifying herself as the common link or the underlying cause.

Throughout the series, she constantly follows her feelings and instincts, but she’ll occasionally hit periods where she begins to distrust her instincts. When that happens, she stops placing any value on her instincts, and instead relies on facts, or her Te, to guide her to a conclusion.