Functional Order: Fe/Ni/Se/Ti
Dominant Function: Fe
Anna focuses a great deal on “social appropriateness,” and that for a time keeps her from having an affair, because she isn’t sure how others might receive it and is considerate of how it might harm her relationship with her son and/or threaten her ability to see him on a frequent basis. She tried early in her marriage to establish an emotional relationship with her husband only for that to fail—she sees him as cold, disinterested, unfeeling, and uninterested in the things that she is most passionate about. She tries to convince her sister-in-law to take back her husband even after he shames her with the maid, insisting it would be better for all their children. At first, she tells Vronsky to leave her alone, then how much he means to her, and keeping a running commentary of her increasing fears, emotional responses, and worries up as the story unfolds. She cares to have society accept her and not reject her, taking personally the shunning at the opera because of their double standard (they are fine with affairs, just not flouting them in public). She can be forgiving and persuasive, sharing with Kitty her excitement over Kitty’s impending marriage. She feels tremendous guilt at cheating on her husband (at first) and in stealing Kitty’s love, but ultimately her own desire for love overwhelms her sense of duty.
Auxiliary Function: Ni
She has a strong focus on the future, both in planning for it with optimism and in fearing the worst. She is forever thinking out loud and planning for her and Vronsky’s life together. She sees a version of the truth of her husband his intentions and believes it, even though she assigns the wrong motives to him (cruel ones, rather than his altruistic sense of certainty that her lover will eventually abandon her, leaving him to pick up the pieces). Anna becomes convinced without proof that Vronsky is either cheating on her, or intends to, with a princess he has met in society. She is obsessed with the distant future – not wanting to abandon her child, but also wanting happiness in the present (Se); excitedly planning her future with Vronsky, then fearing the day he will leave her.
Tertiary Function: Se
She can’t seem to either live in the future or the present, showing a strong fight between her intuition and sensing. Anna deeply needs sexual connections and passion to feed her Se, which soon grows bored with Karenin’s tepid lifestyle.
Inferior Function: Ti
Anna proves unable to analyze herself or her motives, spiraling further and further into paranoia and irrational conclusions that ultimately drive her to her final desperate action (inferior Ti).
Note: This argument has been taken from Funky MBTI in Fiction.
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