Frankenstein: mother

Victor Frankenstein's mother, Caroline, plays a key role in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Because one of my biggest goals in life is to be the best mother possible, I immediately grew attached to and admired Victor's mother.  So many characters throughout this first part of the story seem to be in complete awe of Caroline Frankenstein.  She was a mother to all, she took anyone in and loved them unconditionally.  She rescued Elizabeth from a poor family, Justine from an abusive mother, and loved her own children dearly.  She inspired admiration from everyone she took under her wing.  Elizabeth stated that Justine saw Caroline as "the model of all excellence and endeavored to imitate her phraseology and manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her" (Shelley, 41). 
The events of Caroline's life and death contributed to Victor's fate in regards to his creation.  He had been told how much his mother had suffered while taking care of her dying father til the day of his departure from this world.  He witnessed the anguish she had felt as she attended to Elizabeth while she was suffering from smallpox.  Victor was also deeply affected by the grief he and his family went through after the death of his mother.  I believe his obsession with giving life to a dead object originated from these events.  He never wanted himself or his loved ones to suffer from the loss of a loved one again, so he strove to develop a way to eliminate the possibility of death.