Carrington's taste in women seems a bit off. Alison (the Army Captain) was prim and not overly charismatic. Val (the shrewish wife) was dotty and bitchy. With a brilliant army career behind him, I'd have expected him to pair up with a society debutante.
But then it would have been a different story.
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Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?
The life of a professional in the armed forces of a world power places demands on the spouse that many are unable to fulfil. Valerie, it is clear from the many coded remarks about her not being well and from what we see of her erratic behaviour, could no longer cope. The marriage with Copper, which had not produced any children, was effectively at an end.
Alison, on the other hand, is herself a highly competent professional who one could say is an equal to Copper. Isn't the whole thrust of the story that she will restart his career, become a worthwhile partner to him and, once Valerie has divorced him or overdosed, maybe they will have children together?
They did have children- two sons at prep school.
shareBut even if their marriage "had not produced any children", that might have nothing to do with it being "effectively at an end". Many couples choose to be child-free and have perfectly good marriages. It is too often assumed that people without children have been unable to have them, rather than uninterested in having them.
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