元雜劇 ≪後庭花≫ 연구 — 元代 鬼神劇에 내재된 공포의 본질에 대하여

Abstract

Ghosts are fundamentally symbols of things that many societies neglect and reject. Therefore, ghost stories show what the society did not regard as normal and rejected, and conversely, they become a powerful space to inform the way the society is organized. The spread of ghost stories is linked to social anxiety. This emphasizes that ghost stories are related to psychological defense mechanisms against social anxiety. There have been numerous ghost stories in China since ancient times, and it can be said that the period when the discourse on ghost stories spread in large quantities in the field of performing arts was the Yuan Dynasty. As a result, a large number of new ghost dramas appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, and the reason why ghost dramas were popular during this period is closely related to the anxiety of the times. This study is part of the work of uncovering the substance of fear in ghost dramas, and the subject of this study is the Yuan opera Houtinghua後庭花. Since this work has the aspect of a domestic drama, we can read the aspects of domestic violence at the time. In addition, since this work deals with violence and crimes occurring in various sectors of society, we can read the aspects of social violence in the Yuan Dynasty. The work also has the aspect of a public security play that finds the perpetrators of these incidents. In addition, it takes the form of a ghost play in which humans who have lost their lives due to such violence turn into ghosts, so we can read the life and religious views of the Yuan Dynasty. As such, this work is not only suitable for examining aspects of Yuan society, but is also considered to be a valid work that looks into the problem of the nature of fear inherent in ghost dramas. This study attempts to approach the nature of fear inherent in the work by reading these various problems.