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UIUC EALC 275 - EALC 275_Lecture #25_Lady Hyegyong 2

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EALC 275: Masterpieces of East Asian Literature Lecture #25: Memoirs of Lady Hyegyông 2 Nov. 18, 2013Memoir of 1805: breaking the silence • Audience: her grandson King Sunjo (on the throne) • She was 70 • “False versions” had proliferated • -- “feeling that my descriptions might cast a blemish on their virtue. But I cannot withhold the truth.” (p.241 & pp.334-336) • Memoir of 1795, Genre: Family Injunction • Memoir of 1805, Genre: Writing a historyMemoir of 1805: language and genre • Language: Han’gul rather than classical Chinese • Official histories: third person narration based on sources other than the writer’s personal observations. • Lady Hyegyong’s history: a first person eyewitness account. • Portrayal of people’s full human complexity and imperfection: the only chance for redemption. • Psychological insight: personality conflict between father and son.Struggling for Explanation • Still haunted by the past: “Ah! Grief and sorrow!” • Still beyond her comprehension • -- “some unknown forces seem to have been driving father and son apart. … What can I attribute this to but Heaven? Oh! Cruelty!” • Compelled to write, to set the record straight for her grandson • “I was also concerned that he might not be able to discern right from wrong. Compelled by these considerations, I forced myself to write” (p.336)Father and son • Confucianism: the Five Cardinal Relationships • Analects 12.11: “Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject a subject, the father a father, the son a son.” • Father-son relationship is at the core of tragedy禮 Five Cardinal Relationships R C B W FSeed of trouble • Absence of love and guidance from the father -- Sado in infancy as the model child (pp.243-244) -- Sent to live in a separate palace from his parents (p.252) -- Influence of servants (pp.248-249) -- Sado’s interest in the occult and martial games (p.249) • The famous story of the three moves of Mencius’s mother (p.249)Father’s faults? • Favoritism: daughter, Princess Hwap’yong (p.252-254) • Not paying attention to his son • Humiliating his son in public (p.254) • Using Sado to wash away inauspicious events (p.257) • Heavy burden: Issued a decree making the 15-year old prince the Prince-Regent (p.256)Son’s insanity • Clothing phobia --“For him to get dressed, I had to have ten, twenty, or even thirty sets of clothes laid out. He would then burn some, supposedly on behalf of some ghost or other. Even after this, if he managed to get into a suit of clothes without incident, one had to count it as great luck. If, however, those serving him were to make the slightest error, he would not be able to put his clothes on, no matter how hard he tried. In the process, people were hurt, even killed.” (p.289)Clothing phobia • How to read clothes/clothing symbolically? • -- symbol of one’s position in the society -- Ritual (Li 禮): social etiquette, propriety, ceremonial rituals • Clothing phobia: -- paralyzing terror of being able to live up to the expectations of propriety -- rectification of namesSon’s insanity • A serial killer -- “When anger grips me, I cannot contain myself. Only after I kill something--a person, perhaps an animal, even a chicken--can I calm down.” “Why is that so?” “Because I am deeply hurt.” “Why are you so hurt?” “I am sad that your Majesty does not love me and terrified when you criticize me. All this turns to anger.” (p.287) • Understandable rage and defiance?An inevitable tragedy? • Roaming outside the palace • Gathering of military weapons • The water passage incident (pp.315-316) • Illness or criminal acts? What’s the significance of portraying them as illness? • Sado’s madness became such a threat to the royal family that he had to be eliminatedMother’s choice: Lady Sonhui • Lady Sonhui initially urged the King to eliminate Sado • --“Sundering her maternal love and crushing her parental attachment for the sake of great principle, Lady Sonhui had brought herself to inform his Majesty .” -- the duty over private emotionFather’s side: King Yongjo • Political concerns -- His own problem with legitimacy -- Factional conflicts -- Constant threat of rebellion -- High hopes for his heirThe tragic end • The crown prince died in a rice chest after 8 days of confinement • Yi San (2007) Part 4, 4:50-9:00 http://www.dramaload.com/korean-drama-yi-san/watch-yi-san-episode-38-18909/Rationalizing the brutal execution • Why did King Yongjo ask Prince Sado to get into the Rice Chest? • Concerns over bodily dismemberment • Not to give the appearance of a criminal executionTwo traumas: Lady Hyegyong • On her husband’s execution: -- Depicted as inevitable and justified -- Public duty over private feelings • On the king’s decree of making her son an adopted son of the late prince: • -- Depicted as unnecessary and mind-baffling -- Private feelings over public dutyRedemption: King Sunjo • King Sunjo is the addressee of both the memoir of 1795 and 1805 • Reestablishing the broken bond between father and son– Prince Sado and King Chongjo • “I speak the truth and describe the situation as it was. I say this because I believe that only when the truth is known will His Late Majesty’s act be perceived as unavoidable, one to which he turned, in agony and grief, as a very last resort. Only then will Prince Sado be seen as having met that miserable misfortune because of a terrible illness. When it comes to the late King [Chongjo], one should speak of his grief separately from his duty, in order not to distort the truth. Only then will his human emotion, as well as his duty, receive their just due.” (p.335) • Yi San (2007) Episode 3, Part 2: Lady Hyegyong’s speech to young Chongjo: http://www.dramaload.com/korean-drama-yi-san/watch-yi-san-episode-3-18944/Response Paper #4 • 1. Daughter and Wife to Crown Prince: Lady Hyegyong • What is Lady Hyegyong’s childhood like and how does life change for her once she becomes the bride to the Crown Prince? What conflicts are there between her roles as daughter and wife? Develop a thesis Lady Hyegyong’s two roles and support it by analyzing one or two specific “scenes” from the Memoir of Lady Hyegyong (give citations of page numbers). • 2. Father and Loyal Minister: Hong Ponghan (Lady


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UIUC EALC 275 - EALC 275_Lecture #25_Lady Hyegyong 2

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