The story opens with Chopin foreshadowing the death of Mrs. Mallards. The first sentence of the story explains to us Mrs. Mallard’s heart is in a weakened state "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, care was taken to break to her as gently …show more content…
Mallard’s death was from heart disease, her heart giving out after experiencing the joy that kills. They are partially correct, her heart failing was the cause of her death, but it wasn’t the joy that killed her. Mrs. Mallard had a glimpse at a life without her husband, and then the return of her husband, and therefore the return of her unhappy life was too much for her to bear. Her freedom was taken away from her once again, and with it, this time, was her life. Mrs. Mallard could not handle the strain physically or mentally, of returning to the life that she, for the past hour, had begun to