<李花實傳>의 인물 형상과 그 의미

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the female characters in <leehwasil jeon>, a Chinese novel presumed to have been written in the 19th century. The main female characters in the novel are ‘Bong-ok(鳳玉)’ and ‘Mak-reoi(莫禮)’. One is a noble woman and the other is her slave. As women living in the 19th century, they are considered less important than men, so it is remarkable that they are the main focus of the novel. In particular, the two women have very different ideas about chastity. The fact that this Chinese novel focuses on chastity is quite different from 19th century Korean novels which typically focused on common sense and current trends. This novel doesn't only show the extreme differences between the main characters' thinking, but also the conservative thinking of authors of Chinese novels in the 19th century.