ISFJ 2w3 Characters
Draped in midnight velvet and speaking with the elegance of a bygone age, Catherine Zeta Jones’ Morticia Addams in Wednesday (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is more than a hauntingly beautiful matriarch. She is a study in personality and poise. Beneath her serene exterior beats the heart of an ISFJ 2w3, a soul devoted to love, loyalty, and the preservation of her family’s legacy. Like candlelight flickering in a darkened hall, her warmth glows in sharp contrast to her daughter’s cool detachment. In this analysis, we descend into the shadowy depths of Morticia’s mind, exploring the MBTI functions and Enneagram traits that weave her into the tapestry of Wednesday’s most unforgettable characters.
Introverted Sensing
Morticia is all about her subjective experiences coloring her worldview and her expectations for her children. Because she had a negative experience growing up with her mother, she expects her children to be like her and dislike their grandmother, who is a lot like Wednesday. (A fact that pains Morticia.) Emotionally stinted! But even though she does not care for her mother, she agrees with Weems in season two that to recover her understanding and get an accurate vision, she needs to join hands with another Raven… her grandmother.
In season one, when Morticia arrives at the school, it triggers all kinds of positive memories and associations that she eagerly shares with her ESFJ husband. They revel in the memories they made in the quad, in making out upstairs, in meeting each other, in dating. She assumes her daughter will finally fit in here and make friends, because Morticia did that at Nevermore. She values its social clubs and in season two, when facing an empty nest, returns to Nevermore in a position of authority, to reconnect with her past and establish a sense of normality.
She draws on her experience as a Dove to try to help her daughter understand her visions as a Raven, and is wary of her “reckless” tactics because they remind her too much of Ophelia (who went mad). Her lived experiences with her sister and witnessing her downfall make her want to prevent Wednesday from repeating her mistakes; she takes and burns the spell book her daughter has been using, thinking that will keep her away from dark forces. Alas, her efforts don’t work, since her lived experiences are too different from Wednesday’s and her daughter has no respect for her methods. She insists her daughter wait for a new spirit guide to help her, instead of overusing her abilities, which is leading to black tears.
When an old school rival turns up, Morticia makes a bargain with her; that if she will control her son and lead him away from Nevermore, she will tell no one where they have gone. She assumes that the bonds they forged at school will hold, and allow her to “trust” another mother (because she is trustworthy, another mother must also be trustworthy, a naive stance).
Extraverted Feeling
While Morticia is far from a conventional parent, she has a strong sense of family well-being that includes herself in the overall dynamic. Her job is to be a wife and a mother and when her children leave her nest, she does not know what she “is” anymore and goes searching for meaning at Nevermore. A lot of ISFJ mothers feel this way when their children leave, because they saw themselves as an extension of their children. They were their main provider, encourager, and support system and are no longer needed, so they must redefine themselves as something other than a parent.
She speaks warmly to her daughter and tries to connect on an emotional level, but feels thwarted and unwanted because her daughter’s Fi cannot give her the Fe-seeking external validation she requires to feel appreciated (gushy warmth, continual sharing, and trust). Her husband Gomez is much better at understanding her feelings and sharing his own, whereas her daughter is more distant, difficult to read, and therefore a mystery. Morticia dislikes her mother because she never received any affirmation or a sense of being loved from her.
Her daughter turning to her grandmother in a time of need feels like a betrayal, because it ignores how Morticia feels about her mother. FJs want an emotional consensus and for everyone to share the same feelings, and when her daughter goes against her on purpose, she takes it personally.
In season two, Morticia comes to live in a small Nevermore cottage decorated with “terrible taste” by a serial killer. She’s happy to be part of the alumni community, to help raise money, and to be seen by students as someone important. This reflects her need for external approval, and to build connections with people like Bianca (whom she tries to make feel welcome, even if Bianca is a bit put off by the spider cookies). She also insists on having a family meal so that she can connect to her children, and serves Wednesday’s favorite dish of roadkill.
Introverted Thinking
Once Morticia discovers her daughter’s visions are different from her own, she tries to understand them and decide what to do to help her with them, but she blames the book Wednesday is using, instead of realizing that Wednesday’s experience with black tears might not turn out the same as her sister’s fate. (Her introverted sensing can’t let go of the previous negative experience, to consider that an alternative is possible.) She also can’t seem to realize that to connect with her daughter, she has to adopt an alternative method rather than trying to control her. This is because she can’t detach herself enough to realize Wednesday has a separate path.
When Enid body-swaps with her daughter, Morticia senses something is wrong, but can’t put her finger on what and starts asking questions to get to the bottom of all the things her family are hiding from her. She also wants to protect her family’s reputation so much, she conceals the sins of the past from her children to shelter them.
Extraverted Intuition
Morticia’s blind spots include withholding information from Wednesday that could help her foresee problems; she sees these incidents (the accidental death of a student, and covering up the explosion with Isaac) as “in the past” and as being unimportant. But then they resurrect to haunt her children, leaving her shocked when they come to light. This reflects her tendency to focus on the smaller picture, rather than the implications the past has on the future (higher Ne).
She is cautious about new methods and warns her daughter about being reckless; it upsets her when Wednesday tries to control the Hyde, since it put her and everyone else in danger. There’s no guarantee it would work, and the creature could easily turn on and kill her. Morticia is aghast when her daughter body-swaps, particularly when it puts both her and Enid at risk. She also trusts Tyler’s mother to keep her word, and underestimates her desire for revenge.
The Enneagram 2
Morticia is all about being loving and helping. She gives her daughter a crystal ball so that they can stay in touch, and is hurt when Wednesday asks her grandmother for advice rather than turning to her mother. She sometimes oversteps her daughter’s boundaries in her desire to “help” her, because she pridefully assumes she knows what’s best for her (stealing Goody’s book, burning it rather than returning it to her, and insisting on a séance to help her daughter experience a vision).
As her daughter points out with disgust, she has too many public displays of affection with her husband and they can’t even keep their hands off one another when separated with bars in a jail cell. She needs that constant closeness, appreciation, and flattery, and easily turns it toward being warm and appreciative of others. When Bianca visits her, Morticia lays out a refined spread of cookies, tea, and pleasant conversation. She offers Enid advice and reassurance. And she resents her own mother for her coldness, which denies her the closeness her 2 craves.
Everything Morticia does is an attempt to earn love, praise, and approval from her daughter. She tries mentoring her about her gifts, checks up on her, and stays nearby whenever possible. When the school needs fundraising, she steps up. Morticia feels ashamed when she forgets Thing’s birthday, believing it means she doesn’t love him enough. For a 2, remembering these things is proof of love.
The 3 Wing
When Weems messes with Morticia, she just smiles and pretends she has no idea what she is talking about—effectively managing her image as someone for whom petty things like that do not matter. She tries to guide her children into becoming popular and caring about their presentation, and finds it strange that Wednesday makes no effort to be liked. Morticia became very popular at Nevermore during her years there, joining groups, making friends, becoming part of a secret society, and enjoying the respect of her peers. It shocks her when Wednesday rejects all of that. Her daughter’s public defiance mortifies her (such as when Wednesday rejects being an icon for the school and burns a portrait of her).
In her marriage, Morticia easily to Gomez’s desires (“I’ll go slip into something less comfortable”) and cultivates an image of morbid elegance.
She’s assertive about going after what she wants and enforces strict boundaries with Wednesday. When she takes Goody’s book from her daughter, she challenges her to a duel for it, and when her own mother tries to persuade her to give it back, she throws it into the fire out of spite.
When Ravens and Doves Collide
Catherine Zeta Jones is the perfect Morticia. Elegant, understated, refined, and likable. She oversteps and tries to keep her daughter from making terrible mistakes, but is likable throughout. It’s easy to see her as a misunderstood character, who deserves a lot more of her daughter’s love and respect than she receives. Someone like Bianca or Enid would have flourished underneath her guidance. Though Wednesday may resist her embrace, Morticia’s love is as enduring as the ivy on Nevermore’s stone walls, and just as inescapable. In the shadowed corridors of Wednesday, she remains a figure of both beauty and mystery, a reminder that even in the darkest households, its dark heart still beats.
