Laughter in Jane Eyre

As Wide Sargasso Sea is a revision of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it follows that Rhys borrowed some of the symbols in addition to the characters. Therefore, it is not surprising that laughter is an important part of Jane Eyre, especially regarding Bertha, which is Rochester’s name for Antoinette.

Jane’s first encounter with Bertha’s presence at Thornfield involves Jane overhearing “a curious laugh; distinct, formal, mirthless” (127). Brontë’s description of the strange laughter is peculiar and exact, drawing attention to its importance and therefore functioning to describe the mysterious figure behind the door: “it begun again, louder; for, at first, though distinct, it was very low. It passed off in a clamorous peal that seemed to wake an echo in every lonely chamber…repeated in its low, syllabic tone, and terminated in an odd murmur…the laugh was as tragic, as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard” (127). Although told by Mrs. Fairfax that the sound was only the servant Grace Pool, upon seeing her “hard, plain face; any apparition less romantic or less ghostly could scarcely be conceived” (127). The attention brought to the ghostly laugh and the incongruence between the sound and its presumed source clearly suggests a gap of information and create an air or mystery around Grace Poole and the maniacal laugh.
Brontë’s decision to introduce Bertha in this way, with mysterious, demonic laughter, not only allows for the furthering of plot despite her haunting existence, but also utilizes this versatile element of characterization through laughter. Just from the type of laughter and Jane’s description of it, it is clear that Bertha (though still unnamed and halfheartedly presumed to be Grace Poole) is a frightening, mad character.

In addition to portraying the voice as mad, however, Brontë’s description also prevents the reader from feeling sympathy for the prisoner in the attic. With our modern views on mental illness and treatment, simply describing Bertha as the deranged wife locked in the attic would most likely elicit some sympathy, or at the least pity. However, by describing Bertha in terms of her laugh, a menacing presence by itself, Brontë prevents the reader from empathizing with the mysterious prisoner in the attic, and instead creates a frightening antagonist who finally succeeds in burning down Thornfield Manor and almost succeeds in preventing the marriage between Jane and Mr. Rochester.

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