‘楚玉’과 ‘옹녀’-19세기 비극적 자아의 초상

Abstract

This study describes the tragic image of self in the 19th century through 'Cho-ok' and 'Ong-nyeo', which are the heroines of 「Po - Eui - Gyo - Jip」 and 「the Story of Byun Gang-swoi」 written in the 19th century. It focuses on using these two works as helpful materials for analyzing the complex period of ‘the 19th century’. The creation progress and details of 「Po - Eui - Gyo - Jip」 are very different from those of 「the Story of Byun Gang-swoi」. Nevertheless, the two heroines, 'Cho-ok' and 'Ong-nyeo' had one thing in common since they attempted escape from the traditional lifestyle of the city-governed and wandering society in the 19th century. Both of the works address the issue of 'faithfulness', which was one of the main agendas of the traditional ideology. For 'Cho-ok' and 'Ong-nyeo', however, faithfulness is nothing but a discarded relic from the previous age. They start to be left out from the society by reanalyzing or rejecting the traditional faithfulness. Eventually, they are born again as lonely selves in a dimension different from the past through the escape. The loneliness expressed by these works are different from the one of the plain-old novels since the two heroines bring isolation upon themselves by fiercely fighting against the reality and accustom themselves to extreme loneliness. Thus, their loneliness or tragedy is different from that of the previous-generation novels. Also, the heroines are different from the female characters created in the modern age. 'Cho-ok' and 'Ong-nyeo' need to be understood as characters from a unique period of the 19th century, and require us to understand the society of the 19th century from a new point of view.