#pitfalls of having an aggressively British husband

[snowmasscourier]

To my friends:

I know spamming Shaun with “Come Out Ye Black and Tans” on all his devices for 24 hours was hilarious last St. Patrick’s Day. And I know you all have a prank planned for our beloved or maybe I just love him white bread Brit.

I would just like to suggest not piping loud music for 24 hours again, for one very important reason.

-holds up her six month old daughter-

If anyone wakes up the baby for a prank, it will be Ides of March 2.0. I am absolutely serious. That or I’ll spam a 24 hour loop of Lovey crying on all your devices. That might be worse.

- Becs

[funkymbtifiction]

Hey could you please do a type contrast between ENFP and ISFP because I'm trying to figure out which I am. I think I might be ISFP because I'm pretty sure I have inferior Te because I'm quite impulsive and I don't usually think things through and I used to like to have things in control and to behave according to rules. I've always typed myself as ENFP before though or very initially I also thought I was INXP. I looked on ur type contrast page and couldn't see this one so I thought I'd ask!

Someone out there is laughing at me. My phone literally hit me with this ask 35 seconds after The Scarlet Pimpernel ended and I watched it with an ISFP.

Why does that matter, you might ask? Well, Percy is an ENFP and Margueriteis an ISFP. Go watch it. It’s worth it, I promise. It stars Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. The plot is about a British aristocrat (ENFP) who goes under the alias of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” to rescue people from the French Revolution and winds up falling in love with a French actress (ISFP), who is then manipulated by her ex-boyfriend (INFJ) into trying to find out the identity of the Pimpernel.

As a Ne-dom, Percy has a few excellent things going for him, and a few pitfalls.

One, he’s absolutely hilarious and can snark at the drop of the hat. He enjoys manifesting his feelings through barbs, insults, innuendos, and suchlike, often to express his contempt for the current state of French politics (”You should send your tailors to the guillotine!“ he quips, dissing French fashion; Chauvelin says, “We shall send our king instead, and exalt our tailors,” and Percy retorts with, “Alas, then tailors will rule the land and no one will make the clothes. So much for French fashion!”)

Two, he keeps the larger picture in focus at all times and manages to stay one step ahead of his adversary – this is Ne/Te, allowing him to innovate on the fly just enough to keep ahead of Chauvelin; he engages “plans” and easily sets them into motion, he delegates tasks to subordinates, and he argues rational reasons why they must remain a small group and incognito.

Three, he can revise his plans and abandon all former ones at the drop of a hat, which in the end saves his neck because he had a few minutes to scheme.

Four, he is largely concerned with philosophical abstractions – even though he is using them for mockery much of the time, the real focus of his jabs is the sensory world (he’s pretending to be “the most idiotic fop” in England, for the greater good, because he self-identifies with the French aristocracy - Fi) – fussing about clothing, mocking French fashion, and over-exaggerating his feminine traits to throw people off (emphasis on low Si).

Being so laid back and trusting his ability to get himself out of messes has its disadvantages – Percy almost gets himself killed because he permits one of his League to disobey his orders – his strong sense of Fi (“I am not your boss, and you must do what you believe is right”) is almost his undoing, and his lower Te prevents him from stepping in to lay down the rules, which would have been for everyone’s greater good. His Ne is naive and idealistic – he underestimates how dangerous Chauvelin is due to personal dislike (Fi), and underestimates how dangerous individual situations can be. His Ne’s “we’ll wait and see what happens, and I can revise it later if need be” isn’t always in his favor.

His low Si is also a pain when it comes to believing a piece of information about the woman he loves. Percy has such a poor connection to his own sensory impressions that he cannot contrast and compare what he’s told about her actions with the woman he knows (stronger Si required) and thus believes the ideas he hears (Ne) and retreats into himself, emotionally – he tries to hide “his contempt” but cannot really manage it (Fi).

Since there are two introverted feelers at the heart of this story, there’s a huge presence of misunderstandings, lack of communication, the inability to be frank with one’s feelings as things happen, and the inevitable frustration that comes from each person pulling away from the other to process their feelings, when it might resolve everything if they just… talked.

If Percy is the idealist, Margueriteis the realist who sees more than Percy because she pays attention with Se and interprets with Ni. Early on, strangely drawn to him despite his foppish behavior, she asks him, “Are you an actor too, playing in some strange charade?” She knows he’s lying to her, and to society, but cannot put her finger on why; she senses the shift in him when he believes something about her that isn’t true and says he “wears THE MASK (his fake self) in private now, as well as public.” This is her Fi/Ni loop, sensing Percy is not being authentic to his true self in others’ presence and intuiting his reason why – he must be hiding something because he doesn’t trust me.

Her intuition isn’t quite strong enough to figure out that he’s the Pimpernel, until she sees a visual representation of the Pimpernel symbol and associates it with her husband (Se). She is willing to accept him as he is, though it frustrates her (Fi-dom, disinterested in changing another person; Percy expresses his open disapproval in a much more brutal tert-Te manner, intended to punish her for her perceived wrongdoing and in so doing, change her). She reacts to his coldness by pulling away. Marguerite is offended that he will say nothing in her defense when the accusations become public – society’s opinion matters to her less than that he doesn’t believe her, nor intend to forgive her; and instead of telling him it’s all a lie, she stops confiding in him altogether. Since she isn’t an extrovert, she’s far less confrontational and cutting than he is, when she’s upset (she never confronts him with aggression or demands answers for his strange behavior, but rather tries to appeal to his better Fi-nature).

She isn’t as good at innovating on the run as he is, because he’s an extrovert and has stronger Te, but her impression of who she is, who he is, and who Chauvelin is, is much more grounded and realistic than his (”You shouldn’t tease Chauvelin; he’s very important in the government” = he’s dangerous, Percy, and whatever game you are playing, you need to stay out of his way).

She aligned with the Revolution until it became something she disagreed with, and could no longer morally support, then her Fi slammed on the brakes and she ceased any involvement. She refuses to pretend to be anything she is not. Percy is more willing to compromise who he is, behind a facade; he puts aside his pride and loops out of his emotions as much as he can, in order to deal with what is in front of him (even as his marriage falls apart, Percy focuses on “getting the Dauphin out of France”).

So, in short:

Percy’s Ne is naive and idealistic and he relies on it a lot, reasoning he’ll deal with that problem when he gets there; he falls back on strong Te to get things done, but all the mistakes he makes are sensory-based (underestimating people and situations, making failed escape attempts, etc). His lack of a strong connection to a stable Fi (it’s under Ne’s influence) means he can dismiss his love for Margot, and show her nothing but contempt, disapproval, or a false side of his nature (Te and Ne).

Margueriteprefers to take things at face value (Se) unless something tugs at her subconscious awareness and informs her that this person is dishonest, hiding part of themselves, pulling away from her, or malicious in nature (Fi/Ni). SHE is the one who tells Percy that their romance is moving too fast (he responds, “My heart dictates the pace” – aw, such a romantic sap he is), and because personal integrity is so important to her, it pains her a great deal that he is being inauthentic to himself and to others (Fi) until she understands why.

- ENFP