『박씨전』에 나타난 여성의식 고찰

Abstract

Paksi-jeon talks about union and harmony, which are part of the core discourse of modern social literature, through women's consciousness in Joseon, where women's activities were extremely restricted. The work embodies the ideal human image of union and harmony and claims its significance as the root of female literature, which has been subject to active discussions in modern times. In the work, the heroine is recognized by her husband for her own abilities even though she was a passive being. Furthermore, she actively exerts her abilities in the situations of national crisis and renews the recognition of women's value. She also points the readers' attention towards the institutional contradictions of Joseon society, which advocated for men's dignity and boasted the subjection of women, by being a wise wife who endures the brutal abuse and maltreatment of her husband, who belittles her for her lack of beauty, and helps her husband. Those conflicts do not stop at the family level but expand to the national level. The conflict structure starts with between man and woman and extends to between the ruling and the ruled, revealing man's suppression of woman and further the contradictions involved with the social status hierarchy of the times. Paksi-jeon maximizes the aspects of union and harmony as a whole society and mankind beyond the confrontations between "incapable man" and "competent woman."Paksi-jeon also presents independent femininity through active determination to solve problems beyond just an idea. It presents the image of woman that realizes the contradictions of the reality, in which women and common people cannot have their basic rights recognized in the social regime, and tries to overcome them. It is through the image of independent woman that the novel claims its modernity. However, the novel itself is contradictory as it values reason as the male-centric dominance logic and excludes feminine elements such as woman and sentiment and the mutually complementary nature of the Orient. Unlike other heroic novels, it resorts to women's unique wisdom and resourcefulness to solve problems rather than armed struggle. It thus attempts to embrace others that have been neglected or women within the realm of subjects and restore their value as human beings. A classical novel Paksi-jeon already embodied the ideology of modern society, which tries to renew its perception of women's values such as warmness, tolerance, and wisdom by growing out of the violence and destruction of male-dominated society, through women's consciousness hundreds of years ago. Thus its women's consciousness has the potential of ecofeminist criticism, which sets out to highlight and practice women's perspectives and abilities that have been neglected in a patriarchical system. Thus the novel claims its own literary significance in that its women's consciousness has an intrinsic motivation for the modern literature-based practice of union and harmony, which are part of the alternatives to many conflicts and discriminations in modern times.