"The Story of an Hour" Response

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin made me kind of angry.  Mrs. Mallard was being so selfish that it killed her in the end.  Of what the story told, she had no reason not to like her husband.  He “had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin 2), yet she still only loved him sometimes.  She was filled with happiness after the fact that her husband was “dead” had sunk in.    Also, it seemed that everyone else in Mrs. Mallard’s life could not see a reason for her to be glad when Mr. Mallard died, so naturally, they would assume that she would be distraught at his death.  Mrs. Mallard felt so free after she comprehended this news.  She felt free because she now only had to live for herself, not for someone else.  It is disturbing to me how quickly Mrs. Mallard was able to not only get over her husband’s death, but to then find reasons to revel in it. She was so selfish that the sudden realization that her new freedom had just disappeared when her husband walked through the door alive had actually killed her.  Throughout the beginning of the story, she had tried to figure out, then repress these feelings of joy that she was having.  But because she had failed in this attempt, she allowed the feelings of freedom to overcome and overwhelm her.  “…She was drinking in a very elixir of life…”(Chopin 2).  When her husband came back, this elixir seemed to disappear, and without it, she could not survive.  What kind of freedom does Mrs. Mallard think that she is going to gain now that her husband is dead?(especially in 1892).   I can understand why Mrs. Mallard has heart disease, because there had to have been something wrong with her heart for her to take pleasure in another person’s peril.