Considering Mrs. Mallards initial and eventual reactions to her husband's death in "The Story of an Hour", and the the information you are given in...

It is safe to argue that Mrs. Mallard's reactions over the death of her husband range from shock, to wonder, to hope, to excitement, and finally, to freedom. The very last reaction was, undoubtedly, disappointment; one strong enough to kill the already-feeble young woman.

Upon learning about the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard, a young wife with a heart condition, feels that this would be the first opportunity in her life to be truly, and legally, free.

The reason why Louise relishes this freedom so profoundly is twofold: First, marriage was as an institution considered sacred by all standards during the 1800s. If Louise had ever wanted to leave the home of her parents to engage in "personal" pursuits, she could only do this through marriage. That was her only choice for a "respectable" right of passage of this sort.

Second, Mrs. Mallard may have had an epiphany during her marriage, where she came to the realization that this "mandated" way of life for women was oppressing and limiting. Judging by Brently Mallard's need to take a train to go to work, we can assume that his work hours were far and long, and that Louise had plenty of time at home to think. She obviously has had these freedom-hungry thoughts for a while, since she immediately put them together, right as she gets the news of Brently's death. This makes us wonder, how long exactly has Mrs. Mallard been feeling this way?

Notice, though, that these are the thoughts she had about herself. When it comes to the marriage, we are not really told what Mrs. Mallard thinks about it. She certainly does not seem as if she will miss it. She surely does not revert back to any memories to cherish concerning her married life. She does not even really care!

All that we are given is one sentence, which still paints a pretty clear picture on what this marriage may have been about:

And yet, she had loved him...sometimes

Like many other young, middle class girls of her generation, Louise was probably more enamored with the prospects of marriage than with her husband. The idea of a husband, and the reality of one, were two conflicting ideas in a typical woman of her time. A woman's wedding was considered, by all accounts, the most important day in her life. Imagine that: "The" most important day.

This entails that, for this one time, the future bride will have all attentions bestowed upon her, ensuring that her special day was nothing short of perfect. Moreover, if the match was a satisfactory one, (that is, if the future husband has money or position), then more pomp and circumstance would have be infused into the preparations of what would become this young woman's awesomely, new life.

The problem was that the social expectations of the time, namely, the honeymoon, the social visits, the "at homes" and every other distraction often associated with married life, took away so much from the actual relationship that, in the end,most couples ended up like just that: iconic married dyads in a foppish society. Mrs. Mallard's life was likely that. Her husband, who is obviously a hard-working man, would always be working. Her job, as the "angel of the household", which was a common Victorian ideal, would be to tend to friends, family, social interests, and overall networking. Each party in the married couple had a job that they were expected to do.

Surely, Louise may have once loved her husband, who was a good enough man from what we can see, but she never really had a chance to know herself. She lost herself in the process.

Therefore, we can safely conclude that the Mallards were just a typical Victorian marriage. Marriage was more of a business transaction, more so than a romantic union. Hence, while Louise and Brently may have loved one another, the institution of marriage was not one which supported the inner processes of relationships, but outer appearances.

It is likely that Louise was a social pawn of a wife, expected to be a nurturer, a friend, and the muse of the home. Brently would have been the provider, and the head of the household. All of these "roles" certainly took away love, creativity and inspiration in the average woman.

It is no wonder, then, that Mrs. Mallard saw a huge way out of the shenanigans of her society in finding herself a widow, and hoped for a much better life in the best company that she could think of: her own.