《內訓》연구

A Study on Naehun(內訓) : The Confucian ethics of women

Naehun(내훈) is an ethics text written in the 15th century, and published during the Chosun dynasty(1392-1910). It is a list of rules which a proper woman should keep. The seven chapters of the text also reveals the definition and the personhood of proper woman . The author is a woman with the surname of Han , which is also her maiden name. According to Korean custom, women do not change their surnames after marriage. Since they were not given any official forenames before the early 20th century, the lineage names of their natal family became their only identity after exogamous marriages to other lineage of different surnames. Han(1437-1504) was born as a daughter of one of three prime ministers, married to become a daughter-in-law of a prince, who afterwards usurped the throne and became the King Sejo. After that, Han became the crown princess. However, she did not become the queen because of the death of the prince. After her son became the King, Sungjong, she was highly respected as the King s Mother, Insudaebi. Naehun was written when Han had power as the king s mother and the queen s mother-in-law. In Naehun, the personhood of woman is structured in several ways: daughter, daughter-in-law, wife, mother and mother-in-law. Among those aspects of personhood, Naehun focuses on the roles of wife and especially of daughter-in-law. Following the filial loyalty of Confucian ethics, Naehun displays how a proper daughter-in-law serves her parents-in-law and her husband to become a proper woman. The personhood of the author is mother-in-law and the personhood of targeting readers is mainly daughter-in-law, who is obliged to have at least a single son to become a mother-in-law. In this sense, through projecting women s identity of socially recognised person onto the roles of daughter-in-law. Naehun supports Confucian ethics aim of continuity of the family. The apparent patrilineal continuity of family can be guaranteed only by the continuity of social roles from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. The definition and category of women has been contested and reconstructed in society throughout history. At the same time, the category of women includes many definitions of the personhood of women, which are very different from each other, and even antagonistic. When the personhood of women is employed as the analytic concept of research on women s matter in general. the research becomes clearer and far more productive. Since many feminist scholars began to study the universal subordinations of women and women s struggle for power, women s domestic role has been focused on in many ways. Naehun is the guideline and the strategy to inform women how to achieve power in 15th century Chosun society. To be a proper daughter-in-law is the first step to get access to power in the domestic arena. When the son brings in a proper daughter-in-law, he becomes the head of the family and reaches a higher position in the social ladder, once the daughter-in-law becomes the mother-in-law, who is the most powerful within the family boundary and may exercise a certain degree of power depending on her son s social position. Such is the case with Han, the author of Naehun. In this context, Naehun is read and interpreted as a rare and important feminist text in the study of women s history in Korea.