MBTI Type: ISFP

Rose is at war with fulfilling her own needs and those of other people; even though she is going along with her mother’s scheme to marry her off to a wealthy man, Rose is deeply unhappy about it, and refuses to show Cal any affection or fake any emotions she does not feel. Her mother complains that Rose is doing small things that Ruth “loathes” to get back at her – in reality, she is asserting her independence however she can (“Rose chose lavender… she knows I detest lavender”). Rose is a deep well of emotion. She never says a word about how she is feeling, even though she is bitter. Her own emotions are so intense they drive her to try to commit suicide. Rose never talks about her feelings in the moment, only the circumstances that are causing her frustrations, and only opens up about them 80+ years later; she admits she never told her later husband about Jack, because the heart is a deep ocean of secrets. Once the floodgates open, Rose asserts herself in a blunt inferior Te fashion (telling her mother to shut up, telling Cal she would rather be Jack’s whore than his wife, telling the steward that she is done being polite, and ordering him to take her down). She can be decisive and aware of the facts, telling Mr. Andrews there are not enough lifeboats, and pointing out over half the people on the ship are going to die to her mother. , Yet she makes a totally irrational decision in a crisis (“It doesn’t make any sense; that’s why I trust it”), which shows off her inferior Te. She sees chances to act and leaps on them, and is only happy when she is allowed to engage bodily with the environment through dancing, posing for Jack, feeling the wind rushing beneath her wings on the bow of the ship, and becoming physical with him. Rose nearly jumps off the back of the ship. She thinks quickly to fool Cal about what she was doing there. She eagerly leaps into “a real party” downstairs, where she dances, performs a tough ballet move, and guzzles an entire pint of beer. Rose poses nude for Jack, excited at having a portrait of “my true self, not a doll.” She quickly sleeps with him in the back of an automobile. Rose is excited about the thought of everything she and Jack can do once they reach the mainland; she wants it to be more than a dream – and she makes it so, going on to do many other things (be an actress, a pilot, etc). She also abandons her old life without a second thought when she realizes her mother thinks she is dead. During the disaster, she’s observant of her environment, improvising with whatever she has to get Jack out of trouble (breaking down doors, using furniture and firemen axes when she cannot find keys, etc). She has an intellectual streak, which makes her a bit of an art snob (“It has truth but no logic”). When Jack questions her as to how she knew he is innocent of Cal’s charges, Rose replies, “I just know.” She instinctively knows she is meant to be with him, and plans to get off the boat with him. Rose’s foresight leads her to think about the number of passengers and the lifeboats, but she does not rely so heavily on it that she thinks through the consequences of her decisions (she underestimates the power Cal wields on the ship). Rose’s unwillingness to give Cal a chance to “open her heart” shows she senses something in him that she doesn’t like from the start. When giving her fake name to the list-maker, Rose shows a willingness to believe she can create her own future.

Enneagram: 4w3 so/sx

Rose has a tendency to dramatize things and wallow in her intense feelings without feeling like she can change anything about her negative situation, until Jack offers to rescue her (4s are seeking someone to rescue them). She continues to be this way into her old age, where after a full life, she admits that she is still pining for her first love — and when she dies, she chooses to join him in the afterlife. She likens the beautiful, luxurious Titanic to a slave ship carrying her home in chains. She complains about her life and the expectations others place on her and becomes convinced her only way out is through suicide. Rose finds small ways to assert her superior taste and intellect (”The difference between Cal’s taste in art and mine is I have some”). Her desperate need to be with Jack in an intense situation could be her moving to 2 disintegration and pursuing love at all costs. Her 3 causes her to externalize her emotions and also be aware of and adhere to many social norms (she hesitates to throw all caution to the wind, and act in a way that might be frowned on by those on board ship around her; she considers Jack a poor person yet does not want to say it or admit to her own classism, and is struggling to go against what others expect of her).