Elixir: noun : a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring.
From the “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. (paragraph 16).
I understand that Louise Mallard had a heart trouble and this substance can possibly help cure her condition, she was drinking it fast as it had alcohol in it and it caused the affect that she could see her whole life through the window.
An elixir is a medicinal treatment, but when she drinks in “a very elixir of life,” we need to unpack that a little bit. What exactly is she doing? Is she drinking? How could she consume something through an open window?