How does American realist Kate Chopin depict upper-class marriage at the turn of the 19th century? What does she suggest about relationships...

Kate Chopin depicts upper class marriage at the turn of the 19th century as confining and largely loveless.  When Mrs. Mallard is told her husband dies, the impression given to the reader is that she is grief-stricken.

“She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment."

When she goes upstairs, however, she undergoes a change.  Suddenly, the reader realizes that on some level she is glad her husband has died. Mrs. Mallard feels free. 

“There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature."

This quotation shows that Mrs. Mallard feels oppressed in her marriage—as if a powerful will is bending hers.   Her realization that she will no longer have to live under her husband’s rule makes her feel free. 

“But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome." 

Mrs. Mallard reflects that her husband had always been loving toward her and that she had loved him—sometimes.

“And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not."

Chopin shows the reader the tradition of upper class arranged marriages of convenience.  Women had little choice and even less freedom.  Mrs. Mallard is overjoyed at the idea of freedom for the rest of her life, which she now hopes will be long. 

“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long."

As a result, the shock of seeing him again kills her—a fact of which her husband is blissfully unaware.