Jack is a slightly superhuman figure who doesn't appear to have major flaws, but he will have an INNER PROBLEM, trying to find and win the love of his life. If he has a flaw, it's that he's a little too cocky and arrogant, which later worsens his problems with Cal and Lovejoy. His OUTER PROBLEM or challenge is first to climb into society and then to survive the disaster. He is something of a CATALYST HERO, one who is already fully developed and who doesn't change much, but who spends his energy in helping others to change. He is also a TRICKSTER HERO, using deceit and disguise to penetrate the enemy's defenses. In the end he makes the ultimate heroic SACRIFICE, giving his life to save the woman he loves.
Together Jack and Rose form a pair of POLAR OPPOSITES, male and female, poor and rich, but also express the great oppositional forces of Flight and Restriction. Jack stands for freedom, no boundaries, not accepting the limits imposed by society, an Icarus daring to fly above his station. At the beginning of the film Rose is aligned, against her will, with the opposite force of Restriction, bound by society's conventions, by the force of her mother's grasping will, by her promise to marry Cal Hockley, the dark prince of society. She is a Persephone being dragged down to the underworld. Cal, like Pluto, the god of the underworld who kidnapped Persephone, obsesses about money and is harsh and judging. Pluto was the god of wealth and one of the official judges of the dead. Persephone's lover in the underworld was Adonis, a phenomenally beautiful youth. Like Adonis, Jack comes to Rose in her dark imprisonment and reminds her of the joys of life.
Rose's INNER PROBLEM will be to break away from her ORDINARY WORLD, to re-align herself with the freedom and ability to fly that Jack embodies. Her OUTER PROBLEM will be sheer survival so she can implement what she's learned in a long, happy life.
Titanic elaborately explores the function of MENTOR, with a number of characters wearing the mask at different times. In addition to Old Rose, Molly Brown does the MENTOR job, guiding Jack through the SPECIAL WORLD of First Class and, like a fairy godmother, providing him with a proper costume so he can pass as a gentleman.
Captain Smith is supposed to be a MENTOR for the entire voyage, a leader and the king of this little world. But he is a fatally flawed king, arrogant and complacent, overconfident on the triumphal final voyage of his career.
Jack wears the mask of MENTOR for Rose, teaching her how to enjoy life and be free. He fulfills the fantasy of many a young woman by freely offering the gift of commitment. From nothing but a glance he decides he can't abandon her, for "I'm involved now." Later, when the ship goes down, he gives her the vital knowledge of how to survive by staying out of the water as long as possible and swimming away from the suction of the sinking ship.
Another MENTOR to Rose is Thomas Andrews, the architect of the ship. She wins his respect by her intelligent questions about the Titanic, and he rewards her by telling her how she can find Jack when he is trapped below decks. In this he is a Daedalus to Rose's Ariadne. Daedalus was the architect of the deadly Labyrinth, and gave its secrets to the young princess Ariadne so she could rescue her love, Theseus, who ventured into the Labyrinth to battle a monster that represented the dark side of her family.
CROSSING THE THRESHOLD in Titanic is celebrated with an elaborate sequence depicting the ship "stretching her legs." This movement climaxes with Jack and Fabrizio on the bow of the ship, and Jack exulting, "I'm king of the world.'" Jack and Rose have other Thresholds to cross — each entering the other's world and both entering a Special World of love and danger.
TESTS, ALLIES, and ENEMIES play out in conflicts between Jack and Rose and the forces of Restriction. Jack and Rose connect and become ALLIES when she tries to kill herself by jumping off the ship. He RESCUES her and wins an invitation to dine with Rose and Cal in First Class. He enters that SPECIAL WORLD with the help of MENTOR Molly Brown, and is TESTED severely at the dinner by the taunting of his ENEMIES, Cal and Rose's mother. He passes these tests and stands up to their ridicule, delivering his credo, an expression of the movie's theme: Life's a gift, learn to take it as it comes, make each day count. He wins Rose's greater respect and guarantees further clashes with Cal.
Rose's TEST comes a little later when Jack, promising to show her a "real party," guides her into the SPECIAL WORLD of Third Class. In a sequence of wild music, dancing, and drinking, Rose is initiated into the world of Dionysus, the god of intoxication, passion, and ecstasy. It's a test of her society girl standards — will she be offended by the earthy, brawling orgy? She passes the test by outdoing the immigrants with her drinking, smoking, and dancing.
The stage of APPROACH is expressed in the lovers' tentative romantic dance with each other, including the lyrical moment when Jack positions Rose at the bow of the ship, making her its figurehead, teaching her how to fly, how to balance between life and death. If he is king of the world, now she is queen.
Rose makes a deeper APPROACH when she asks Jack to draw her picture, trustingly exposing her naked self to him. This is a TEST for Jack which he passes by acting like a gentleman and a professional artist, enjoying the erotic moment but not taking advantage of her vulnerability.
THRESHOLD GUARDIANS abound as the lovers draw near to the Inmost Cave and the beginning of an elaborate, multi-leveled ORDEAL. Dozens of White Star Line stewards stand guard at doors, elevators, and gates, and a squadron of them, like a pack of hunting dogs, is sent by Cal to seek out the lovers. Jack and Rose, fleeing from Restriction, find themselves deep in the hold where they face an ORDEAL on the level of intimacy. They climb into the Inmost Cave of the luxury motorcar and join as lovers. In the "little death" of orgasm Rose's hand streaks the window glass, looking like the hand of a drowning victim, drowning in love. By crossing this great threshold, they have died to the old life and are reborn in the new.
The death-bringing ORDEAL for the Titanic comes moments later when the ship hits the iceberg, the mute, inexorable force of Nemesis, that spirit sent by the gods to punish prideful mortals. The death of the ship and of hundreds of passengers occupies the next major movement of the drama.
Jack and Rose harvest some REWARD from their death-and-rebirth experience. They are bonded, supporting each other in the struggle to survive. This is tested when Rose is given a chance to escape in a lifeboat. Sensing that Cal will abandon Jack to die, Rose fights her way back onto the ship to share her fate with Jack's.