The State of Sex Crimes in the Late Joseon Period Seen through the Adaptation of Real Life CRIMES in Classic Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to compare the reality of sex crime in the 18th century Joseon society and the way in which it was adapted into classic fiction. For this purpose, this paper examines sex crime recorded in "Shimnirok", Royal trial records, and depictions of sex crime novels in the 18th century. The analyses are as follows: i)in addition to adultery, rape, crime induced by rumors, various types of sex crime appear in the "Shimnirok", as is the case with the novels of the era; ii)in the real world, adultery occurred more frequently, whereas suspected adultery appears more frequently in classic novels than the actual adultery; iii)in cases of rape and attempted rape, they are mentioned in novels as frequently as in real life, however, unlike the reality in which rape between a married couple was not recognized, it is described in novels with greater detail, and the rape victims of lower station depicted as to elevate their social positions is also further from the realities of the time; iv)in the real world, there were many victims of sexual rumors or scandals who committed suicide, whereas in classic fiction, the rumors does not induce crime and emphasis is more on containing the spread of such rumors, and finally; v)as seen in the "Shimnirok", when investigating sex crime, it was imperative to employ flexible methods according to the individual circumstances and nature of the crime, which holds true even in today’s world.