MBTI Type: ISFJ

Ethel is an exceptional cook, who can attend to such exquisite details, she can make sure all the dishes come out exactly when they are supposed to, and serve a high-class dinner without any major mistakes, even though she’s the only one in the kitchen doing any of the work. She’s an expert at what she does and feels good about doing it, but also feels overwhelmed at being expected to do everything alone, get it all done on time, and dress the ladies for dinner! Unlike her husband, she is sensitive, emotional, and focused on situational appropriateness, such as when she asks Vera to please leave this part of the house since it belongs to the servants, not the guests. She easily is hurt when Emily tells her that she stinks and should have put on cologne before she came upstairs, and she morally objected to her husband murdering their last mistress by smothering her to death. She becomes emotional and upset when someone has died, and thinks they are being ‘punished’ for their sins (which turns out to be accurate). She has a fearfulness of the unknown and the future, which shows her inferior Ne.

Enneagram: 9w1 sp/so

Ethel is meet and mild-mannered, obedient and easily cowed by her husband’s violent behaviors—even when she tries to stand up for herself and say that she doesn’t want to dress Emily for dinner, he bullies her into it and she goes upstairs, obedient. When Emily insults her to her face about not smelling good after working all day in a hot kitchen to fix a meal for all of them, she gets her feelings hurt but does not respond, say anything rude or inappropriate, and returns to her work downstairs to finish her task. She is dutiful, but also fearful that what they have done is going to have repercussions, that they’ve been wicked and are being punished for their sons.