While I paced softly on, the last sound I expected to hear in so still a region, a laugh, struck my ear. It was a curious laugh; distinct, formal, mirthless.
Chapter 11 · Narrator
Context
Exploring the third floor of Thornfield with Mrs. Fairfax, Jane hears a strange, unsettling laugh echoing through the narrow corridor, a sound completely at odds with the stillness of the house.
Analysis
The adjectives piled onto 'laugh'—'curious,' 'distinct,' 'formal,' 'mirthless'—work against each other, as if language is struggling to capture something that doesn't fit normal human emotion. A laugh is supposed to signal joy, but this one is 'mirthless,' making it a hollow performance of feeling rather than the thing itself. The word 'formal' is particularly strange, suggesting a rehearsed or ritualized quality, as if the laughter is not spontaneous but compelled. This makes the sound uncanny in the Freudian sense—familiar enough to be recognized as laughter, but distorted enough to feel wrong.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Bertha's laugh is the novel's first sign that Thornfield contains something unspeakable—the language used to describe it breaks down, signaling that the sound exceeds rational explanation and hints at what the house is hiding.