<三韓拾遺>에 나타난 烈女의 形象

Redefining the "Chaste and Faithful" in Samhanseubyu

In Soehaeng Kim's(1765~1859) novel, Samhanseubyu, the main character Hyangrang was thrown out of the house and sent back to the home of her birth after so much hardships inflicted by her mother-in-law and husband. While at her parent's home, she rejected the offers of remarriage from those around her and finally committed suicide. This novel was based on a true story of Hyangrang of the Chosun Dynasty period, but recreated her a~ a character of Shilla Dynasty. In the story, it was acknowledged in heaven that Hyangrang died of innocence. She was reincarnated and married the kind-hearted Hyoryum who had planned to marry her in the first place. In between the whole process of Hyangrang's reincarnation and her marriage with Hyoryum, the author included a variety of episodes and incidents. An episode portrayed Confucius being selected as the final decision-maker of Hyangrang's reincarnation and her marriage with Hyorum, the heavenly army attacking devil's move to break apart the marriage, the Buddha confuting on how the lust of man and woman is an indelible part of life to human beings while fighting with the devil. The author put an emphasis upon the fact that the affection between a man and a woman was so much essential of all matters in the world and presented a new ethics for women's life by remarriaging the heroine. The reason why the author persistently argued that Hyangryang was a "chaste and faithful" heroine was to present a new ethics for women through keeping the word "chastity and faith" but redefining its traditional concept. Now a "chaste and faithful" woman was the one whose "pursuit and realization of true love" overcame the conventional ideology and institutions and actualized a new freedom and equality for woman. This redefinition of conservative values for woman makes Soehaeng Kim's Samhanseubyu an orignai work in the Korean literary history.