<숙녀지기>에 나타난 여성 지기(知己) 형상화의 의미

Abstract

Of Sukyeojigi(淑女知己), there is no record of its author and the year of its publication. Only six different manuscripts of it exist. Considering the mentions of copiers on their manuscripts and the records of publishing which are found in the copies of old type print, Sukyeojigi is thought to be largely circulated in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. What is notable of this work is the existence of two female protagonists who belong to high class and desire a very close friendship between women. Two female characters of this work are represented to want the kind of friendship which is deeply involved not just as a woman but as a human being. In the Eastern classics, this kind of friendship is called jigi(知己). Jigi refers to the one who knows well his friend and is willing to sacrifice his own life for his friend. In those periods, this kind of deep friendship exclusively referred to men’s relationship. But in this work, two female protagonists wish to keep the close friendship even after their marriage. The previous studies of Sukyeojigi seem to agree that this work focuses on the female ethics and female subjectivity. But for the interpretation of the last part of this work where two women have a marital relationship with the same man and lived together in happiness, there are different opinions. While some think that this ending reveals the conformity to polygamic customs under Confucian patriarchy, others think that this marriage results from two women’s desires. To give a way to interpret this last part, this study focused on two motifs in this story. One is the motif of selling one’s body. In this story, a daughter decides to sell herself and to become a servant in order to pay the funeral fee for her father’s death. The other motif is two female friends’ marriage with the same person. In this motif, it is important to know whether these two women decide to marry with the same man by following their own desires, or it just reflects and satisfies men’s fantasies. To fully understand the meaning of these motifs, this study investigated other stories which include similar motifs and came to confirm that these motifs were largely found in other works as well. Through this comparative investigation, I could see that the marriage motif of Sukyeojigi reflects the women’s desire for a close friendship in Chosun dynasty in the nineteenth century. In the polygamic marriage life of this work, the husband is represented as a passive person and serves for his two wives to keep and restore the close friendship between them. Considering the historical context of the circulation of this work and the bond of noble women in their ordinary life, this study tried to give more comprehensive interpretation of the meaning of the representation of a close relationship between women in this work.