Frankenstein Journals: Through the eyes of a Jungian analyst
Ch 3-5

Pg. 28- “She had, at first, yielded to our entreaties; but when she heard that the life of her favourite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety.She attended her sick bed—her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper—Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver.”

In this quote we can see how Caroline, Victor’s mother takes her place in the novel as the figure of the caregiver once again. She belongs to what is called the family archetype, where the mother is the feeding, soothing, nurturing figure. She id there for others and sacrifices herself.

Pg. 28- “My children,' she said, ' my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children.”

In this passage, the mother of the two makes it kind of like a final wish for Victor and Elizabeth to be together. They may or may not be each other’s anima/animus, but it is already rather planned for them to be together. Whether or not they are soul mates, known as the “divine couple” or Syzygy, is not really a factor, because it is expected of them to be together. But they do show affection toward each other and seem to compliment one another.

Pg. 29- “It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she, whom we saw every day, and whose very existence appeared a part of our own, can have departed for ever—that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished, and the sound of a voice so familiar, and dear to the ear, can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences.”

Victor is beginning to feel the grief of losing his mother. That part of him is now gone and it is beginning to affect him. He begins to miss his mother’s presence and that comfort which she provided and which he was accustomed to. This begins to seep into his mind and interferes with what he feels subconsciously.

Pg. 29- “She indeed veiled her grief, and strove to act the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life, and assumed its duties with courage and zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time, when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget.”

Elizabeth takes on the role of Caroline, as caretaker, after her mother dies. As the woman, and only “motherly” figure around, it is her duty to comfort others. She soon takes it upon herself to
comfort those who surround her, and hide her own feelings and anguish.

Pg 30- “I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away, and indulged in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure, I was now alone.”

After his mother’s death, the only comfort he feels comes from his family; mainly Elizaeth. Clerval serves as a companion as well. But he is sson sent off to a University and all of this is removed from him. He begins to finally feel alone. This loneliness eventually leads to his need and passionate approach to create a being.

pg.37-“After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life ; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.”

Shelly gives Victor the knowledge and power to bestow life upon a thing, just as a god would, but she doesn’t warn him about the effects of his actions. Victor is misguided by his subconscious mind into reanimating dead matter, but it overpowers his consciousness and he does not think about the consequences.This points out an idea that perhaps Shelley believed that although the works of god could try to be imitated, they can never be fully replicated because one cannot challenge God in his own game. Throughout her life the only one who would always be there for her was god, and so he influenced her mind, as is reflected and mentioned often throughout the novel.

pg. 38- "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."

Once again Shelley subconsciously warns, through Victor, on trying to imitate god's actions. When one goes against what is natural and it's forces, the outcomes are not too favorable.

pg. 38- "It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being."

Victor's loneliness and his passion for scientific endeavors cause him to lose focus on life, and he focuse more on what is already dead. He becomes obsessed with the idea to reanimate matter and from this he creates a being. this being turns out to be the artwork that allows his archetype of a "shadow" to finally rise.

pg. 42- "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form ?
but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart."

When he completes his objective, and his passion begins to dissolve, he begins to recover his conscious mind, only to finds that he has made a huge mistake. He becomes afraid of what he sees in front of him. what he does not realize is that he can no longer hide from what he already unleashed, and that was giving his subconscious a body.

pg. 43- "But it was in vain : I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her ; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death ; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms ; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel."

Now that the shadow is finally out, Victor is enveloped by fear, and this is expressed even in his dreams. He once again needs comfort, but when he tries to reach for it, he finds hinself overcome by darkness. he brings misery to those around him. He finds himself next to his dead mother;meaning that there is no one left to understand and nurture him anylonger.

"pg.43- "Mingled with this horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment ; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me ; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete ."

Victor is dissappointed , because he was led by passion and not reason. He blindedly fell into creating the being, and later did not know what to do with it or about it. He never considered the fact that after creating it, the being would need him, and he would need the being as well.. He always pushes it aside and hides from it, not knmowing that by coming together they become one.

CH 20-22
pg 144- "I was now about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness. He had sworn to quit the neighbourhood of man, and hide himself in deserts; but she had not; and she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation. They might even hate each other ; the creature who already lived loathed his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for it when it came before his eyes in the female form ? She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man ; she might quit him, and he be again alone, exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by one of his own species."

The being comes to understandthat in life, there seems to be a "guardian like figure". A woman provides this, whether it be through being a wife or a mother, and he feels deprived of both. H searches for Victor and demands a female. He wants his "anima" but Victor as his creator, will not grant him one because he is not "deserving" of it. He fears creating a scond being, and does not rlate to the being as having human like qualities and needing a womanly figure.(just as he only understands that only he needs one;Elizabeth).

pg 146- "Shall each man,' cried he, ' find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone ?"

Here once again the being refers to a desire for his anima and finding himself complete with a soulmate/companion.

pg. 146- "Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power ; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. Your are my creator, but I am your master—obey !"

This is a very strong quote. It represents the costant battle between the conscious mind against the unconscious. This shows a face to face battle between Victor(the concsious) and the Being (the unconscious). One tries to dominate the other. in this case, the being tries tointimidate Victor in order to manipulate him.