Character Analysis
Caroline is Victor's mom, and, like any boy raised right, he really loves her. After she dies of scarlet fever, he has nothing but good things to say: she "possessed a mind of an uncommon mould" (1.3); she had a "soft and benevolent mind" (1.5); she was full of "tender caresses" (1.6) and "fortitude and benignity" (3.1); she was a "guardian angel to the afflicted" (1.6).
Hopes and dreams? We don't know much about that, although we learn that she comes from a respectable family and that her dad was friends with Frankenstein Sr. Yeah—there was a wee bit of an age difference.
Actually, that age difference does clue us in to something: by marrying her dad's close friend, Caroline keeps it in the family—just as she desperately wants Victor to do, by marrying Elizabeth. (That's her dying wish.) So, Caroline helps us trace some of the text's creepy family romance. There's nothing like a dead mom to drive a scientist mad.