「兩班傳」 의론의 재고찰-朴趾源의 政論, 「名論」의 맥락에서-

Abstract

This paper examines the meaning of Yangban-jeon in the context of “political utilization of names” that Pak Chiwŏn argued in Myeongnon. When it is said that Yangban-jeon drew a commotion over the cause of Yangban, the main confrontation occurred not between Jeongseon-yangban and the rich, but between the provincial governor and the county governor. Jeongseon-yangban, which had a huge debt of Hwan’gok, reflected the social image of the time when the jobless problem of the poor Yangban became a serious social burden. In this regard, the provincial governor tried to adjust the legitimacy of the Yangban on behalf of the position of the court and the position of only the politicians, and eventually created a “thousand-seok(千石) yangban” that resulted in the transaction of the Jeongseon-Yangban and the rich. In response to this, the county governor called all the four occupations in Hyangchon and publicized the legitimacy of the yangban with two literary rights. The first literary right reflected the legitimacy of Jeongseon-Yangban, who had debt of thousand-seok(千石), and the second literary right reflected the legitimacy of the rich who paid thousand-seok(千石) to become a yangban and benefit from it. As a result, the public opinion revealed that neither Jeongseon-Yangban nor the rich were proud yangban that could be accepted by Jeongseon's people. In the end, by claiming that yangban is an natural nobility, not a human-made, the Yangban-jeon satirized the incompetence and irresponsibility of the yangban, which had been made in the past society, and at the same time highlighted the problems of the yangban's legitimacy that the government officials of the time wanted to adjust.