Les Misérables characters and Personality Profiling

[MssrGrimm]

Have any of you bothered to learn about the FUNCTIONS of MBTI? Without the functions, the four letters are MEANINGLESS. That's why people make the mistake of saying things like "sometimes I'm INFJ and sometimes, I'm INFP" Even though those two personality types have NOT A SINGLE FUNCTION in common. It's more than just Feeling/Thinking, iNtuition/Sensing, Perceiving/Judging, and Introversion/Extroversion. It's Fi/Fe, Ti/Te, Ni/Ne, Si/Se and the order of preference with which they prefer to use them. Fi, Ne, Si Te? INFP. Ni Fe Si Te? INFJ. FeNiSeTi? ENFJ. SeTiFeNi? ESTP. NeTiFeSi? ENTP. TeSiNeFi? ESTJ. SiTeFiNe? ISTJ. Etc. etc. So it's important to remember the FUNCTIONS and try to understand them well, or MBTI is meaningless. (Although some skeptics argue that MBTI is meaningless anyway, but that's another argument)

I believe in the movie, Gavroche is an ENFP. He's DEFINITELY an Extroverted Perception dominant and and I'm guessing he's more Fi than Ti auxilliary, so that leaves ESFP and ENFP. In the movie, whether parroting arguments from the scholars (more likely) or drawing the connections himself (more impressive, but less likely for a boy that age) he still shows a pretty good understanding of the basic concepts behind the scholars' beliefs in his movie version of the song (it's more detailed in his movie version describing the failure of the revolution) and he thusly displays enough interest in the concepts themselves to have picked up on them at such an early age despite being poor and likely, uneducated (outside of what the scholars teach. Or at least, not very WELL educated)

However, the play version seems less conceptual, so I'm going with ESFP there, cause he usually displays quite a bit of physical energy with his performance (Extroverted Sensing)

As for Javert? Either ESTJ or ISTJ. Hard to tell. Maybe ISTJ, because with inferior Ne, they're known to be pretty inflexible (think Hank Hill, ISTJ mascot) On the other hand, He could be Fi inferior with his mercilessness. But Fi is not always kind hearted. Being introverted in nature, if not properly developed, It can be very self-oriented and dogmatic. Hard to tell with JAvert, but he's definitely one of the two.

Thernardier seems to be ENTP or ESTP. I'm thinking ESTP. His goals are always fairly simple, straight-forward and singleminded (inferior Ni?): Sex, Survival, Money, Luxury if he could get it, flashy things, such as the ring he stole from Marius and kept as a souvenir (all Se oriented) And he seems Ti auxilliary, so there's that...

As for Éponine, she's got so many problems and seems so unhealthilly developed, that it's hard to say for sure her type. ENFP seemed pretty good to me, though. She was intuitive enough (N) and in touch with her own emotions enough (Fi) that she was able to realize it wasn't really Marius she was in love with, but the idea of him. The fact that she decided to still entertain this fantasy, KNOWING it was unfullfillable and bullshit anyway, just to have something in her life (almost like an escape, similar to Cossette's castle in the clouds) kinda suggests Ne dominance.

[Potato112]

Gavroche is definitely ExFP, I agree. He seems more ESFP in the stage show, yes.

Éponine, due to her craziness, can't be properly classified as a specific type... but she seems very ENFPish in the musical.

Cosette is probably an INFP. I'd accept an argument for ISFP but I think Fantine is the ultimate, 100% ISFP. Cosette is definitely an idealist/dreamer, and "Castle on a cloud" as well as everything she sings with Marius when she grows up shows she's more of an INFP than an ISFP. ISFPs are more in the moment, due to their being sensors - they care about details, what's happening right now... she seems more like that. "I dreamed a dream" could show that she's a dreamer, too, but the book's Fantine is ISFP. Also, Cosette and Fantine are both into fashion and trends, but Cosette doesn't care for her clothes (many INFPs don't care much about what they look like) while Fantine cares a great deal about what she wears and what she looks like. Cosette starts caring about this only when she discovers she's beautiful, and clothes gave her the confidence boost she needed. And she still made some mistakes in what she wore - like when she wore damask (I think) and a young lady wasn't supposed to wear damask (something she never learnt, as she didn't have a mother) and a few other times.

Valjean is IxFJ, I'm inclined to say INFJ but that might not be the case.

Marius is INFx, I'm leaning towards INFP but he could be INFJ - though if Valjean and he are both INFJs, wouldn't they get along better? Like, wouldn't they understand each other far better?

Prouvaire is ISFP, but the "head in the clouds" attitude he has reminds me of INFPs.

Thenardier is probably ESTP, and his wife ESFx.

Enjolras is the only character I cannot type. He's probably a thinker, which makes him xxTx... but I can't really type him. He's too difficult to type!

[ancslove]

I think Enjolras is an introvert. Hugo calls him "farouche", which covers fierce, wild, and shy. And when we see him in the Musain, he's the one sitting quietly in a corner working and listening, only occasionally joining in. He has a handful of very close friends, but he's socially disinterested. Most of the time, he's lost in his own world, the world that he wants to make reality. He leads because he's the one with the clearest vision and best articulation of that vision. But his leadership is quiet and concise.

[Potato112]

He could be INTP, by that logic, I think - INTPs always like to chase down an idea, and he somehow fits that type.

[MssrGrimm]

After reading the part where Javert kills himself, I'd say he's gotta be ISTJ. Although he does seem to have some Fi related problems, his bigger problem is Ne related. He doesn't seem to be able to take ANYTHING outside of his own little world he'd built for himself (Si) out of law (Si and Te) and authority (Te) and he doesn't seem to be able to take anything that shakes up (Ne) his little world (Si). The unknown (Ne) seems to be something he can't take and is willing to kill himself over rather than face uncertainty (Ne).

I was actually about to point out that Cossette's "Castle on the Cloud" thing seemed pretty FiNe to me. It seems she NEEDS to daydream andto escape from the real world more so than an ISFP or and ENFP would. Although ISFP's CAN do their own highly imaginitive daydreaming, they're still too oriented towards being in the "here and now" (Se) to get as stuck in fantasy as Cosette seems to be.

I say ISFJ for Jean Valjean. He doesn't have any kind of vision or big idea (dominant Ni) that he struggles to see actualized (Inferior Se). He just seems to want to live out his life (Si) and take care of Cosette (SiFe) Although he doesn't seem to show the struggle with an inferior Ne that Javert shows, he doesn't seem to be very heavy on his use of extroverted perception (Se or Ne) and his change seems to be MOSTLY invoked by circumstance. I'm going with ISFJ for now. Unless someone convinces me otherwise or something makes me change my mind, I'm going with ISFJ.

So I'd say:

The Thenardiers - Both ESTP (especially M. Thenardier)
Gavroche - ESFP
Éponine - ENFP
Cosette - INFP
Fantine - ISFP
Jean Valjean - ISFJ
Javert - ISTJ

Also, I'd like to throw out there as an INFP that after reading about Victor Hugo, he STRONGLY seems like and INFP to me. This would explain why the primary "villain" of his story is an ISTJ. (I once heard a joking description written about ISTJ's that they have a predatory relationship with INFP's, keeping our population in check hahaha)

[Potato112]

I totally agree with your typings, MssrGrimm!

[freedomlover]

Enjolras= ENTJ. Although I see where the "I" and the "F" are coming from. Brick!Enjolras is more T then F. I'm guessing he is a weak extrovert...
Fantine= INFP. Hands down.
Combeferre= INTP
Courfeyrac= ENFP
Gavroche= ENFJ
Marius= INFJ?
Thernardier= If you take away the craziness, ESTJ
Javert= ISTJ
Valjean= ISFJ
Bahorel= ISFP
Grantaire= HARD
Éponine= ESFJ
Cosette= INFP

[MssrGrimm]

Actually, this blog makes an interesting case for Javert being ESTJ: http://mbti-in-fiction.tumblr.com/post/ ... 227/javert I never was TOO sure of my decision. I'm still not quite sure whether he's ESTJ or ISTJ. But I'm starting to think ESTJ... Actually, I'm REALLY starting to think ESTJ. Because it wasn't just his own little world being shaken up, but his black and white moral compass (inferior Fi) and his categorizations of people (Te) into good or bad (inferior Fi) Still, I dunno...

[CeridwenLynne]

I've only profiled a few of the characters :

Enjolras: ISTJ maybe a weak ESTJ.
Grantaire: ENFP or ESFP ???
Combeferre: ISTP
Marius: INFP
Éponine: ENFP

Enjolras is only an extrovert when it comes to talking about his cause. I think that at heart he is an introvert who does not like to open up to people about anything but the Revolution.