MBTI Type: ESFJ

ESFJs possess a unique talent for being able to sense what others need and adapt themselves to it, and never is this more beautifully shown than the scene where Edwina gets caught up in an awkward exchange between the insane King George and his wife, not to mention, everyone else in the room. She approaches him with sympathy and compassion, tells him what he needs to hear to get him to calm down so he will go with the guards rather than be dragged away (she talks about his great love for his bride, and how happy it will make them both to get married, and how he ought to rest before the important ceremony). Then she soothes the queen by saying that all she saw was the very great love between them, and how much she admires it—a way to let the queen save face and ultimately, a compassionate act that saves her own reputation because the queen owes her a favor. This is typical of Edwina. She knows what she needs to say and do, to suit any occasion, and that’s what makes so many men chase after her—it’s not just being called the “diamond” of the season, but the fact that she is warm, caring, sweet, and tells them whatever they want to hear (it does not offend her to be asked questions about children, the tells Anthony, because it’s normal that he would be curious about these things in choosing a wife). She also is quick to assert her own feelings, when she feels things—she tells her sister that she likes Anthony the most, and wants him to court her, so she should force herself to like him more. This is a little bit of Fe “tone policing” – she wants everyone around her to get along, so Kate must learn how to like Anthony, and tolerate him, for Edwina’s sake. Fe’s want everyone on the same emotional page and will act decisively to make it happen. She wants the things that Si’s want—love, permanence, a solid marriage, and children, because they understand this is how you carry on the family line. It’s the normal, expected thing to do, and she wants to do it. Her intuition is not good at all; she has no idea about the connection between Anthony and Kate until she sees it with her own eyes, after hearing about loving looks between people. She also assumes because they have a connection that Anthony is in love with her, and is shocked to find out he is not – that’s what makes her break off their engagement, because she believes in love, wants it, and knows that she “deserves better” than just polite affection. After she finds out about them, Edwina has a short period of time where she lives in her introverted thinking. She becomes way more critical of her sister than before, and less tolerant – she accuses her of being selfish and unkind, when that’s not the truth; she is stuck in an angry place of thinking about people, and changing her mind about them, rather than using her usual love and acceptance. It takes her sister’s near death experience to reengage her with her emotions and restore her to her usual forgiving self.

Enneagram: 9w1 so/sp

Enneagram 9s will abdicate their wants and needs, to make sure others have their own needs met. Kate says of Edwina that if she knew the truth (that she needed to marry well, to receive her inheritance and provide for her family), that she would “marry at once for us, without thinking of her own happiness.” Edwina looks to everyone around her for permission to do things—she literally looks at her sister, before deciding whether or not to accept an invitation to dance; she looks to the queen for permission before taking someone’s arm. Her entire life is built around letting Kate manage her affairs, screen her lovers, and learning to better assert herself and her own wants and needs. She experiences massive growth before the end of the season, in that she has ceased to simply go along with her sister, and now is willing to state that if she marries Anthony, it will be because of what she wants, not to please everybody else. She is also more able to give voice to her anger toward them for their deception (“was I always this blind?! Were they always looking at each other like this?!”), she holds onto her anger longer, but she also comes around to forgiving her sister, and insisting she be with the man she loves, because it’s the right thing to do. Her 1 wing makes her principled, but also gives her a lot of moral indignation – she feels angry that her sister has lied to her, and won’t let “I was doing it for you” stand as a decent excuse. She judges her from a place of “this was wrong/bad and I won’t speak to you again for a while, until I am through being angry with you.” Prior to seeing the longing looks they give each other, she was naïve and innocent, trusting of them and their good intentions; after that, she uses her stress line to 6, to start questioning them and their motivations, and ultimately winds up stronger for being more discerning and less trusting.

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