Catherine Earnshaw MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Catherine Earnshaw? Catherine Earnshaw is an ESFP personality type in MBTI, 4w3 - sx/so - 478 in Enneagram, SLUEN in Big 5, EIE in Socionics.
[1/2] If I were to argue for E4 Catherine, these are the points I would at least consider using: 1. Catherine is emotional and theatrical, with a tendency to use suffering in the form of sickness to gain attention and affection. 2. Her belief that she isn’t good(?) enough for Edgar Linton or Heaven serving as an example of low self-esteem. 3. Her belief that she is very much like Heathcliff, an sx4. 4. The romantic and passionate yet intense and dark nature of her relationship with Heathcliff Let me address 3) and 4) first. 3) is obviously not a good argument because no one is saying that Catherine and Heathcliff are both ENFPs or wtv. 4) is also a bad argument because a teenager like Catherine is capable of very emo love affairs regardless of type. While Catherine’s love does feel reasonably destructive in the same way that E4s at their worst may desire the destruction of those around them, it’s worth noting that Catherine doesn’t wish destruction on those she envies, which is what E4s do. Instead, her concern seems to be that Heathcliff will forget her: ¶ “‘I wish I could hold you,’ she continued, bitterly, ‘till we were both dead! I shouldn’t care what you suffered. I care nothing for your sufferings. Why shouldn’t you suffer? I do! Will you forget me? Will you be happy when I am in the earth? Will you say twenty years hence, “That’s the grave of Catherine Earnshaw? I loved her long ago, and was wretched to lose her; but it is past. I’ve loved many others since: my children are dearer to me than she was; and, at death, I shall not rejoice that I am going to her: I shall be sorry that I must leave them!” Will you say so, Heathcliff?” She wants to cultivate emotional dependencies, which is 2 af ngl. In fact, Catherine doesn’t seem to envy anyone at all. In her own words: ¶ “‘But does it not show great weakness?’ pursued she. ‘I’m not envious: I never feel hurt at the brightness of Isabella’s yellow hair and the whiteness of her skin, at her dainty elegance, and the fondness all the family exhibit for her. Even you, Nelly, if we have a dispute sometimes, you back Isabella at once; and I yield like a foolish mother: I call her a darling, and flatter her into a good temper. It pleases her brother to see us cordial, and that pleases me. But they are very much alike: they are spoiled children, and fancy the world was made for their accommodation; and though I humour both, I think a smart chastisement might improve them all the same.” Of course, I believe Heathcliff says something similar earlier, only to become an envious individual afterwards, so this quote may not be one we can take at face value. I do find myself believing Catherine’s words, though. Does she really envy Isabella? Does she do anything bad to Isabella apart from humiliating her for her own pleasure, a situation that involved her poking fun at Isabella for her inferior intellect? As a whole, Catherine seems more entitled and arrogant than she is insecure. See: ¶ “(On why she’s chosen to marry Edgar) And he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband.” ¶ “[I]t was nothing less than murder in her eyes for any one to presume to stand up and contradict her” ¶ “I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me”
Biography
Her love for Heathcliff is passionate but incredibly unhealthy and twisted, and eventually consumes her with insanity. Pauline Nestor's introduction to the novel argues that her desire for total identification with the object of her love ('I am Heathcliff!' rather than 'I love Heathcliff') represents a regression to childlike lack of identity, also shown by her failing to recognise her own reflection in a mirror just before she dies. Catherine's love is so insane that it basically destroys her entire identity and personality.
Related Personalities
Heathcliff
Ellen "Nelly" Dean
Catherine "Cathy" Linton
Edgar Linton
Hareton Earnshaw
Isabella Linton
Linton Heathcliff
Hindley Earnshaw
