 Shelley 's writings focus on the role of the family in society and women 's role within that family . She celebrates the " feminine affections and compassion " associated with the family and suggests that civil society will fail without them . Shelley was " profoundly committed to an ethic of cooperation , mutual dependence , and self @-@ sacrifice " . In Lodore , for example , the central story follows the fortunes of the wife and daughter of the title character , Lord Lodore , who is killed in a duel at the end of the first volume , leaving a trail of legal , financial , and familial obstacles for the two " heroines " to negotiate . The novel is engaged with political and ideological issues , particularly the education and social role of women . It dissects a patriarchal culture that separated the sexes and pressured women into dependence on men . In the view of Shelley scholar Betty T. Bennett , " the novel proposes egalitarian educational paradigms for women and men , which would bring social justice as well as the spiritual and intellectual means by which to meet the challenges life invariably brings " . However , Falkner is the only one of Mary Shelley 's novels in which the heroine 's agenda triumphs . The novel 's resolution proposes that when female values triumph over violent and destructive masculinity , men will be freed to express the " compassion , sympathy , and generosity " of their better natures . 
