MBTI Type: ISFJ

The nameless heroine is a simple girl who loves to draw and paint, who thinks that memories should be bottled up like scent, so you can release them on a whim and relive them. She loves her memories so much, she wants to recapture and relive them whenever she chooses. She asks lots of questions about the house and about Rebecca, attempting to learn more about what is going on to form a clearer picture in her head. She is quite unsure in new situations, but likes to repeat what has worked in the past—she constantly compare herself negatively to Rebecca, and wonders if others are doing the same, she pulls her inspiration for her costume from a portrait in the house, and throws a ball just like her predecessor did. She is naïve and impressionable, but also wants to please everyone else all the time. She would rather do what is expected from her than break away and form her own identity – she tries to be useful around the house, but feels intimidated by Mrs. Danvers, so she goes along with all of her plans without asserting herself. This is partly because she is an Enneagram 9, but also because her Fe wants to adjust to and adapt to the desires of those around her, especially Maxim. She easily talks about her feelings to Frank and others, pleading with and wanting to clear the air with Maxim immediately, and sometimes asserting herself forcefully when she feels threatened. She has no reason to care what Mrs. Danvers thinks of her, but still does. Everyone finds her sweet and accommodating. Her morality is fluid and dependent on the situation; she accepts her husband’s explanation about what happened to Rebecca, does not judge him for it, and moves forward, protecting him and defending him and standing by his side as they move forward and fight the charges leveled at him. She is rational in how she tells Maxim that they will stay calm and beat the accusation of murder. She tries to find out the truth about things and needs to know why her husband is behaving the way that he does, which causes her to speculate at times. She is rather poor at guessing the truth; she never once thinks that Mrs. Danvers might be attempting to manipulate her, or that Maxim had anything to do with his wife’s death, or that she shouldn’t keep Jack’s visit from her husband.

Enneagram: 9w1 so/sp

The sin of the 9 is going asleep to oneself, and it’s true, she gets carried along in everyone else’s wake until the second half of the story, where she comes more into her own and decides to stand with Maxim. She hates any kind of conflict, thinks so little of herself that she is shocked that Maxim loves her (and wonders if she would be more interesting if she were glamorous, or dressed in red satin, or had more beautiful eyes). She assumes he’s wanting a secretary when he asks her to marry him, and has to be told she’s being a little fool. When Mrs. Danvers tricks her into upsetting Maxim, she is not at ease until she puts it all right the next day. She allows others to say things to her they should not (insults, slights, even accusations), and only starts asserting herself when she feels a need to defend Maxim. She can be too deferential and okay with things, even justifying murder because she does not want to feel uneasy by it. Her unease and anxiety over conflict causes her almost to faint in a courtroom. Her 1 wing allows her to further repress her anger, though it does manifest from time to time; she wants to do the right thing and feels a lot of shame for getting a servant in trouble after she breaks the china cupid and doesn’t tell the truth about it (she felt cowed by Mrs. Danvers and did not want to earn her wrath).