After a few minutes, Mrs. Mallard gets up out of her chair and opens the door for Josephine and they both walk downstairs together. Upon arriving to the bottom of the staircase, the front door to Mrs. Mallard 's house began to unlock and open. It was Mrs. Mallard 's husband, Brently Mallard, who is alive and well. Startled, Josephine cries out and tries to hide the sight from Louise, but it is too late. Mrs. Mallard was so immensely shocked at the sight of him that her poor, weak heart gave out right then and there. "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease -- of joy that kills ''. The cynicism of this sentence can be detected almost immediately, and as explained by ThoughtCo, "It seems clear that her shock was not joy over her husband 's survival, but rather distress over losing her cherished, newfound freedom. Louise did briefly experience joy -- the joy of imagining herself in control of her own life. And it was the removal of that intense joy that led to her death. '' To further express the meaning of this "joy '', Selina S. Jamil explains in the article, "Emotions in the Story of an Hour '', "... the "joy '' that kills Louise is the joy that (doctors assume to be joy of finding out that Brently was not actually dead) she refuses to surrender, as the patriarchy would require her to do at Brently 's return. But, for one climactic hour of her life, Louise does truly taste joy. For one hour of emotion, Louise does glimpse meaning and fulfillment. To be fully alive, then, is to engage in heightened consciousness, to observe and connect with the world around one 's self. '' This helps to show just how powerful the emotion was that Louise had felt. For one hour, Louise had a sense of freedom and was so ecstatic to begin her new life, but that was stripped away from her far too soon and her heart was unable to bear the shock that she felt about seeing her husband alive.
who dies in the story of an hour
Louise Louise Louise Louise Louise Louise Louise