Journal Entries

Rationale for 1^st move: Introduction of Character

I introduced my character, Caroline Frankenstein, by writing about her role in the Frankenstein family. I wrote about the love and care she feels towards her children, even Elizabeth, which is plain to see in the novel. In his tale, Victor relates to Walton, “no creature could have more tender parents” (Shelley 19). He describes his parents as being utterly devoted to him as a child; he also relates how his father directed his education and the studies of his siblings, while his mother “partook of [their] enjoyments” (Shelley 25). Caroline cares deeply about the health and happiness of her children and her niece, and works with her husband to raise them well and to make sure they enjoy themselves.

I also comment on Caroline’s wish for Victor to marry Elizabeth when they were older. In the text, Caroline describes Elizabeth as “the most beautiful child she had ever seen,” with “a gentle and affectionate disposition” (Shelley 19). Caroline loves this girl as if she were her own daughter from the moment she comes to stay with the Frankenstein family. She adores her qualities so much that she already matches her up with Victor, foreseeing their future happiness together. It is her dying wish that they be together, and she tells them, “my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union” (Shelley 26). On her death- bed, Caroline only thinks about her family and wants to know that they will be happy again after she is gone.

There is not much more to tell about Caroline Frankenstein, except about her childhood, and her life with her father when she was Caroline Beaufort. I did not reveal much about her past; I only made an allusion to the fact that Caroline grew up without a mother. I left out the rest of her backstory that is revealed in the novel, including caring for her sick father and living in poverty until Alphonse takes her in and marries her. Shelly depicts Caroline Frankenstein as the archetypical mother figure in the novel through her close, caring relationships with her family, and her willingness to do anything for them.

Rationale for 2^nd Move:

This move builds upon my previous move introducing Caroline as a caring wife and mother. Taking into account that she has died from scarlet fever, I wrote some entries from Caroline’s girlhood diary, when she lived with her father. I tried to develop Caroline’s character through these diary entries, as she is not present for much of the novel and not much is revealed about her.

In these excerpts, Caroline mainly interacts with her father after he has lost his business and they retreat to Lucerne to live in poverty, “unknown and in wretchedness” (18). I describe the deep despair Caroline feels in watching her remaining parent slowly lose his will to live and decline in health. I really emphasize her feelings of helplessness as her old life is taken away from her, and she is forced to live a new life to which she is unaccustomed. However, “Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould; and her courage rose to support her in her adversity” (18). She tries to support herself and her father through simple work in spite of her dreadful situation, but this is not enough, and she is absolutely devastated when he dies.

Her feelings of uncertainty about her future as well as her loneliness explains her immediate attachment to Alphonse Frankenstein, the only person in her life who takes an interest in her well being and gives her a home and a new life after everything else has been taken away from her. In the novel it is described that “he came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl” (19). Caroline views his coming to take care of her as the act of an angel or a saint, and she feels wholly in his debt for this chance he gives her at a new life. I wrote that she was eager to have a family of her own because she wishes not only to be a good wife to the man that saved her, but also because she wishes to recreate the loving family environment she once had.

Rationale for 3^rd Move:

My final move involves Caroline appearing to Alphonse in a dream before the event of Justine’s death. She appears in a white gown, looking young and beautiful. I used this image of her to further support the idea of her as the ideal wife and mother figure in the Frankenstein family’s lives. I made her purpose in showing up in Alphonse’s dream to warn him about the family’s future, and to make him promise to do his best to keep them all together and safe. This has always been Caroline’s main concern, and it remains so after her death. When she was dying, she beseeched Elizabeth to “supply [her] place” and take care of the children (26). She needed to make sure that someone would take care of her family after she was gone. In appearing before Alphonse now, she is continuing to try and secure the future happiness of her beloved family.

In the dream, Caroline mentions that she still watches the family, and is concerned for them. She tells Alphonse that she knows their fates, but she cannot tell him. However, she does reveal that Justine will be with her soon through some preternatural power she now possesses, and tries to reassure her husband as well as she can. She does this on her deathbed as well: she tries to comfort her loved ones by saying, “I will endeavor to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world” (26). Even in death Caroline tries to care for and comfort her family, and she wishes them happiness, even though she knows the future misery in store for them. She asserts that it is her responsibility to care about the family members’ futures, and that Alphonse should only worry about their immediate danger.

Caroline has only ever cared about loving and protecting her family, and by appearing to her husband in his dreams, she continues to fulfill this duty after death. She proves that death cannot stop love or her duty to her family. She will always be watching over them, and will be waiting to greet them when they are ready to follow her into death.