The Performance of Virtue and the Loss of Female Individuality in Choson Korea: A Feminist Reading of the Tale of Ch'unhyang

Abstract

The Tale of Ch'unhyang is perhaps Korea's most well known and oft repeated folk story. Originating in the middle of the Chosen dynasty, it has persisted in various forms for nearly four hundred years in part because it is replete with moral lessons, including notions of filial devotion, obedience, and faithfulness; but none is as enduring and fundamental to the plot as the concept of womanly virtue. This paper will provide a feminist reading of the story to articulate the mandates of Choson Confucian society on women. We argue that the Tale Ch'unhyang reveals that the price of fulfilling the Confucian ideal of womanhood lies in the sublimation of female self and in the loss of individuality. Taking a historical approach, the paper contextualizes the Confucian ideals of female virtue, discusses performative acts of gender, and analyzes the ways in which the traditional narrative art of p'ansori continually rearticulates historical norms of those ideals. It concludes with an extended feminist reading of particular p'ansori versions of the tale.