I think most viewers expect that Elizabeth will get some sort of exciting last minute reprieve because that's what happens in most stories. It would be a real kick in the gut if she actually does die. What if, even after realizing that she does have the option to change her fate, she chooses death?

I don't think that would be a kick in the gut, though. Because that's her planned story from the beginning. It's the solution for her, the way it was always supposed to end. The kick in the gut is that she doesn't get her heroes death. She has to live on, perhaps with somebody else dying.