국문 장편소설 <하씨선행후대록>에 나타난 송사(訟事) 모티프의 양상과 그 의미

Abstract

The Korean full-length novel Hassi Seonhaeng Hudae Rok (33 volumes, 33 books) deals with various events that take place inside and outside the family, such as marriage conflicts and domestic conflicts, with a focus on the 4th generation descendants of the Ha family. In particular, Go Rang (female) and Jang Dae-rang (male), who had a grudge against each other in their previous lives, are reincarnated as Hwang Wol-hye (female) and Kwak (female), forming a confrontational relationship and creating various incidents. The meaning of the lawsuit motif in Hassi Seonhaeng Hudae Rok is as follows. First, it is possible to view the landscape of legal culture in the late Joseon Dynasty. This work realistically shows the criminal trial process leading from the chieftain - the governor - the king, and reflects the attitude of the law that punishes the ‘ten evil sins’ most severely and respects the value of ‘zealousness’ more than murder. Second is that it reflects the people’s expectations and wishes for the trial. It shows the corrupt judge Wang Se-seung and the wise judges Ha Gyeong-yeon and Jang Moon-gwang in confrontation, and contains the public’s expectations for a judge who can make a wise decision through a fair trial. On the other hand, it also shows through trials that the standards of ‘justice’ pursued by society and individuals are different. The end of the lawsuit is when the plaintiff’s resentment ends, but in the end, Go Rang could not accept the verdict and killed Jang Dae-rang himself, which means that the trial did not resolve Go Rang’s resentment. It can be seen that the people wanted a judgment based on humaneness, not a judgment based on Confucian ideology. The litigation motif of Hassi Seonhaeng Hudae Rok describes the trial process and presents various cases of lawsuits such as murder, assault, sex crimes, and adultery, allowing us to look into the legal culture of the late Joseon Dynasty, and the confrontation between wise judges and corrupt judges. It is very meaningful in that we can read the readers’ desire for an ideal judge through the process, and we can get a glimpse of the gap between justice and individual justice in the late Joseon society through trials that cross reality and fantasy based on the judgment results. In particular, it is significant in that it showed the diversity of Korean full-length novels by moving these litigation motifs from short stories to full-length novels.