 Maud Ellmann even asserts that Karen only loves Max "precisely because he is another woman's".Later, after Karen has conceived her illegitimate child, Mrs. Michaelis betrays her husband by sending Karen on a year of supposed European travel and study, just as Karen further betrays Ray by secretly giving birth to and then giving away an illegitimate son.In the present, Karen still betrays her father, who is desperate for grandchildren, by hiding his grandson's existence.