홍석중의 소설 「황진이」에 드러난 인물 형상화 고찰

A Study on the Depiction of Characters in Hong Seok-jung s Hwangjinyi

Hong Seokjung s novel Hwangjinyi feature Nomi, a fictional character, and Jinyi, a fictional representation of a historical person. This paper investigates relations between the two characters and their roles in the narrative structure. The author presents Nomi at the beginning of the novel against the background of a stableman’s house crowded with the lower class, to create a character who leads the story with Jinyi. Jinyi, once known as a flawless upper class lady, is depicted as a girl carrying a dangerous passion . In a sense that Jinyi is presented with fam iliar motifs such as dubious birth and marriage obstacle； she is not so much differentiated from the character of prior historical novels covering Hwang Jin-yi. Nomi, leaves her when he can no longer bear the humiliation and pain of being a cuckold to Jinyi. Their twisted love maximizes the tragic aesthetic at the scene in which Nomi lays down his life to save Guitongyi, a leader of robbers.The appearance and exit of Nomi is a connecting composition and fictional device to give prominence to Jinyi s role in the narrative.Therefore, Nomi is not a mediating role but a main character who leads the story line with Jinyi, being in an indivisible relation with her. Nomi cannot exist without Jinyi , as Jinyi cannot exist without Nomi. The relationship between Nomi and Jinyi is a central axis of the narrative. Hong creates an imaginary character, Nomi, who does not exist in any other historical novels covering Hwang Jin-yi, and describes him as the only one that Jinyi truly loves. Jinyi quits being a courtesan (妓生), when Nomi, who had become the leader of the robbers of the story and embraced the pain of the people, is decapitated. The narrative structure that ends with finding the identity of Jinyi, once lost, shows Hong s world view. Jinyi in this novel, then, is individuated through Hong s creation of the fictional character, Nomi.