Patroclus MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Patroclus? Patroclus is an ISFJ personality type in MBTI, 9w1 - sx/sp - 964 in Enneagram, RLUAI in Big 5, SEI in Socionics.
I know that this argument is long, but I am so strongly convinced that Patroclus is ISFJ that I think it was necessary that I pinpointed each specific evidence that I have, so bear with me. His Si being dominant is so clear that I have always been confused as to why people vote him INFP. His entire character is built on vivid descriptions of what he experiences--he literally tells Thetis, "I am made of memories." His whole life is made of graphic perceptions of the things that happen to him. I also do not see Fi being his dominant function at all; I understand that he has an urge to be good, especially to the people around him, and he values doing what's right over what's easy, but I think that this stems more from strong Fe. His morals really only come into play when he is concerned with the well-being of others; in other words, he is focused on others' needs and will disregard everything else to take care of people, especially those that matter to him. He is also very naturally caring towards others, which further alludes to his Fe. At one point, Achilles comments on the fact that though he could never remember all of the mens' names at the camp, Patroclus made a point of remembering and greeting them when they passed. He also jumps directly into doctoring the injured men at the camp, and though he hadn't really had any true experience with it before besides what he had learned with Chiron, he's extremely helpful and successful. This points to both Si and Fe; he is naturally skilled at being precise and paying attention to detail (Si) and he cares enough about the injured men, who he is not even close to, to do it without anything in return (Fe). His tertiary Ti is visible through the way that he makes sense of things around him, and it is too strong for it to be inferior, therefore declaring him ISFJ rather than ESFJ, because I know that it sometimes can be difficult to differentiate between the two types in characters. Many times, he rationally moves through each part of a situation to determine the entire landscape, developing his own explanation and solution. He does this, again, in the moments that he is providing care to the injured--he is skilled at problem-solving, and he values finding the way most helpful to the "patient" rather than just doing standard practice, such as the scene where he has to get the arrow shaft out of the boy's chest. He even says, "normally a doctor would snap off one side, before pulling it through. But there was not enough of it sticking out of his chest to do it without tearing the flesh further. I could not leave it, nor drag the fletching through. What then?" He successfully finds his own way to save the boy by thinking it through, step-by-step, forming his own method. Finally, his inferior Ne can be seen through his inability to adapt to things that are new and quick-paced; mentioned continuously throughout the book is his incapability in combat. It's not like he is bad with his hands--he is very talented at slow-paced medical procedures, which require extreme talent with the hands. It is his inability to "think on his feet", to generate ideas without any buffering--comparatively, the medical procedures require deep processing and planning. Medical procedures are also predictable; of course, there will be many different patients with many different problems, but generally, there are similar steps to take towards treating a patient. The same cannot be said about combat; it can never be truly predicted how an enemy will move. He prefers, and is just naturally more skilled at, acting after he has processed through a problem and developed a plan of action, also pointing to Si. Another thing I would like to mention is the way that Achilles and Patroclus juxtapose each other, and how this would make infinitely more sense when seeing it as Fi vs Fe, especially in the final scene between them before Patroclus goes to battle in Achilles' armor. If anything, Achilles is the one who displays the strongest Fi throughout this novel, much more than the supposed Fi-dom that Patroclus has been voted as. In that final scene, Achilles refuses to join his men in battle because of how he was disrespected by Agamemnon, and how none of the men "stood up for him". He is willing to let his men die, to let his side lose, solely for the sake of protecting his own dignity, which he feels will be lost if he allows Agamemnon to disrespect him like that and still fight beside him. At this time, Patroclus is begging him to move past it so as not to let the men die. He is willing to compromise Achilles' dignity, for the sake of the men, so much so that when Achilles refuses to fight, Patroclus takes it upon himself to help them, as incapable as he is in combat. Throughout this entire book, he is determinedly focused on others, and I think it is reasonable to assume that he would sacrifice/compromise almost anything, including morals, to protect the people that he cares about.
Biography
Patroclus is the main character of the novel The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. He is the companion and lover of Achilles.
