Typing Fictional Characters: The Addams Family

*snap**snap*

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family. – Vic Mizzy

The above adjectives, ghoulish, demonic, bizarre, macabre and memorable have all been used to describe the Addams Family as well as their creator the cartoonist Charles Addams. I never read much of the comic strip Charles Addams created but I did watch the original 1964 TV series often during my childhood. I adored each member of the family and all their gothic tendencies. Purely for nostalgia’s sake, I decided to character type each member of this weird and memorable family.

The Addams Family is about the close-knit extended family with distinctly macabre interests and supernatural abilities with no explanation for them explicitly given. Much of the humor derives from their culture clash with the rest of the world as well as employing zany satire and screwball humor.

I am going to be using the Myers Briggs personality types when discussing these characters. As usual, if you would like to read the description of the 16 different types in detail you can do so from the Myers Briggs Foundation.

(To take the official professional test yourself, go to www.mbtionline.com.)

Gomez Addams: ENFP – The Champion

Gomez is the athletic, jolly, acrobatic, and eccentric patriarch of the Addams Family. He is a crafty schemer, optimistic and enthusiastic of his outrageous plots, ideas and activities. He is an accomplished juggler, knife-thrower, fencer and dancer. Without a doubt, one of his favorite activities is crashing and blowing up his toy trains as they race on the tracks. He is a multi-billionaire, having acquired much of his wealth through inheritance and investments. Though he is a successful business man, he has little regard for money and will casually spend thousands of dollars on any whimsical endeavor, such as the materials required to build a robot with his son Pugsley. Gomez’s investments are guided more by whimsy than strategy as it is his belief that the pursuit of happiness is the highest priority in life.

He is also very passionate with an ardent devotion to his wife Morticia. Like many ENFPs, he often enjoys talking with people, listening to their aspirations, what motivates them and inspires them. He never judges anyone when it comes to their dreams and will often discuss even the most outlandish dream with enthusiasm. Gomez is certainly unconventional and a bit scattered as he has a habit of not being in touch with his physical surroundings. He more often than not overlooks the details and focuses more on self-expression and connecting with other people. He has little patience for the mundane and wants to experience life with intensity and flair.

Morticia Addams: ISFP – The Composer

Morticia is the gentle and quiet matriarch of the Addams Family. She may seem distant and aloof at first, but once people get to know her she is caring, friendly and warm. She is spontaneous, flexible and willing to go with the flow, which is important when one is an Addams. She is carefully observant of the needs of other people, especially her children, and often steps in with quiet, unassuming assistance at the right moment when it is needed most. She does not like being in the spotlight, preferring to take a supportive role.

Like most ISFPs Morticia is artistically inclined, has a strong aesthetic sense and enjoys seeking out beauty in her environment, just not the kind of beauty most people would think of. For example, she finds beauty in bloody war battles, frequently enjoys cutting the buds off of roses and keeping only the stems, cutting out paper dolls with three heads and making sweaters with multiple arms. Morticia is often seen playing Japanese instruments, dancing and painting. She is deeply loyal to family and the people she cares for. Of all the family members, Morticia is the one who makes certain that her family upholds the traditional Addams way, living up to the expectations of their ancestors and is usually the most astonished when one of the clan goes astray and does something “pleasant.” She is tolerant, nonjudgmental and accepting of others and she often encourages other members of the family to do the same.

Pugsley Addams: ESFP – The Performer

Pugsley is the older Addams child and is fun-living, spontaneous and energetic. He enjoys entertaining others and engaging them with dark humor and enthusiasm. He lives in the moment and is often reluctant to be serious. He is observant of the needs of others and is always ready to give them his assistance in any way that he can. Like most ESFPs, Pugsley likes to keep busy, filling his life with various hobbies and activities. Pugsley also likes to steal road signs and uses them to decorate the walls of his bedroom. In addition, he enjoys listening to the resulting crash of vehicles after he steals the signs. He is inventive with incredible engineering skills. He makes toy guillotines, full size racks and various guns such as a disintegrator gun and an anti-gravity gun. He and Gomez even created a computer named Whizzo and a robot named Smiley.

Wednesday Addams: INFJ – The Counselor

Creative and dedicated, Wednesday is the younger Addams child who enjoys helping others and finding solutions to their problems. This is evident when she helps teach Lurch how to dance. Like her mother, she is also artistically inclined. She is a ballerina, enjoys painting pictures, including a picture of trees with human heads, and writing macabre poetry. Though her favorite hobby is raising and breeding spiders. Wednesday has several headless dolls but her favorite one is her Marie Antoinette doll, which her brother guillotined at her request.

She is a very sensitive person but also reserved and private, and is only comfortable with sharing her most intimate thoughts and feelings with a select few. She has her own system of values and makes her decisions guided by these values. Because she is so gentle and reserved, it often takes people by surprise when she expresses her emotional intensity when one of her values are threatened or called into question. This is perfectly illustrated in one episode when she punched a boy in the face when he continuously insulted her family and their legacy.

Fester Addams: ENTP – The Visionary

Fester is the open-minded and unconventional uncle in the Addams Family. He is a creative thinker and will often jump into a new situation and trust himself to adapt as he goes, as seen in many episodes when he enthusiastically goes along with schemes concocted by Gomez, Morticia, or Grandmama Addams.

Like other ENTPs, Fester questions norms and promptly ignores them, preferring to think of new ways to go about things then going along with the standard. For instance, Fester suffers from severe migraines and when one comes along he relieves it by placing his head in a large screw press and tightening it to levels that normal people would not be able to withstand. Sometimes he uses the screw press on his head simply for enjoyment and fun.

Fester has a bizarre ability to generate electricity. He can illuminate light bulbs by simply putting them in his mouth and they are usually accompanied by a loud, crackling noise. He has many ideas and is excited to discuss them with others. He is a “big picture” person and does not bother with details. He is more excited with exploring an idea then making it a reality and as a result, he rarely follows through with his many ideas.

Eudora “Grandmama” Addams: ESTP – The Dynamo

Eudora is the active, lively, playful, practical problem solver grandmother of the Addams Family. She has a talent with responding to the demands of the present moment, usually with various potions, spells and hexes. Like most ESTPs, Grandmama enjoys adventure and activities laced with danger. For example, one of her favorite activities is wrestling alligators. Another example is when she told the story of voting in the U.S. for the first time in 1906. When Fester pointed out that there was no women’s suffrage in 1906, she ambiguously replied with “That didn’t stop me!” She often brings a sense of dynamic energy to her interactions with others and the world around her. She handles emergencies well and can apply her logical reasoning to come up with solutions where swift action is necessary. She is also known for her cynical and morbid sense of humor which she enjoys displaying with friends and strangers alike.

Lurch: INFP – The Healer

Lurch is the gloomy, profoundly loyal, faithful butler of the Addams Family who looks like a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and a zombie. He often communicates with his actions rather than words. Through his actions we see that he takes pride in his work. He is also sensitive, caring, and compassionate, and is concerned with the personal growth of others, encouraging them to explore their own ideas and values. This is evident with his close friendship with Wednesday and his paternal affection for both the Addams children.

When it comes to the children, Lurch does everything from taking them to school and preparing their lunches to keeping an eye on them when they are home. He is also close friends with the disembodied hand Thing, another character who speaks with his actions. Lurch is accepting, nonjudgmental and largely shares the family’s macabre standards though at the same time he often seems exasperated by them and their antics, especially if it involves dirtying up the house. Similar to most INFPs, Lurch is creative and artistic. He enjoys finding new outlets for self-expression and this is illustrated with his talent on the harpsichord.

Thing: ISFJ – The Protector

Thing is a disembodied hand and helpful hand-servant of the Addams Family. Thing cannot talk and so he communicates through snapping his fingers, signaling in Morse code, writing and finger-spelling. Thing is a loyal caretaker who focuses on his duties to take care of the needs of other people and makes sure he does what is expected of him. Thing appreciates tradition and prefers going along with established rules and values. He is humble and unassuming, and rarely calls attention to himself. He can often be found offering assistance to others in a modest, understated way, including visitors at the Addams house who are surprised when they finally see him, express their inarticulate shock, and flee the premises. Thing’s many useful roles include gathering the mail from the mailman, handling cigars and lighting them for Gomez, changing the channel on the TV, holding Morticia’s wool while she knits, turning grapes into wine for the family, and turning over records on the phonograph.

Do you agree with my assessment? Or do you disagree? How would you type the characters of The Addams Family? Let me know in the comments below!

ABOUT TYPING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS (a regular column): 

Silver Petticoat writers attempt to type fictional characters using the Myers Briggs Assessment. We base our choices on research and all around educated guessing. It’s all in good fun and we love a good discussion, so if you agree or disagree with our choices let us know!

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