In this blog post, I will examine two characteristics of love depicted in “The Tale of the Lowly Servant at Manboksa Temple”—a story included in Kim Si-seup’s ‘Geum-o Shin-hwa’—by relating them to the social conditions of the time and the author’s perspective. I will also analyze the author’s intentions in portraying love between the living and the dead, as well as free love between men and women.
The Object of Love and the Author’s Intent
Kim Si-seup’s ‘Geum-o Shin-hwa’, regarded as Korea’s first collection of short stories written in Classical Chinese, holds great significance as a literary work in its own right. Written during the early Joseon period, ‘Geum-o Shin-hwa’ is a collection of short stories comprising five works: “The Tale of the Ghost at Manboksa Temple,” “The Tale of the Woman Who Saved Her Husband’s Life,” “The Tale of the Drunkard at the Wall Pavilion,” “The Story of the Abbot of Namyeombu,” and “The Record of the Dragon Palace”—and among them, “The Tale of the Man at Manboksa Temple” depicts the tragic love between Yang Saeng and the spirit of a deceased woman. The love depicted in “The Tale of the Cloth at Manboksa Temple” has two distinctive aspects. The first is that the protagonist, Yang Saeng, falls in love with the spirit of a dead woman. The second is that, contrary to the prevailing social norms of the Joseon Dynasty—where strict rules between men and women were believed to exist, as evidenced by the saying “men and women should not sit together after the age of seven”—Yang Saeng and the woman’s spirit meet freely and share their love.
Lee Dong-yeol stated that all literary works reflect the era in which they were created and the social consciousness of the people of that time. Additionally, Michel Gerapa argued that, among literary genres, the novel is premised on the reality in which it was written, and since its characters are created based on real-life models, there is a close connection between the novel and society. In other words, even though a novel is created on the premise of fiction, it is ultimately an art form that effectively conveys sociological content and meaning. This shows that to properly understand a literary work, one must analyze it by considering the social conditions of the time in which it was created. Furthermore, since literary works reflect not only social conditions but also the author’s consciousness, it is necessary to analyze them while taking into account both the author’s life and mindset.
Therefore, to effectively analyze the two characteristics of love depicted in “The Tale of the Lowly Servant at Manbok Temple,” it is necessary to consider both the social conditions at the time of its writing and the author, Kim Si-seup. Through this analysis, we aim to understand the author’s intention in portraying Yang-saeng falling in love with the spirit of a deceased woman and engaging in a romance that defied the social norms of the time.
Yang-saeng falls in love with the spirit of a woman who died while remaining chaste after being separated from her parents during a Japanese pirate invasion. Although Yang-saeng fell in love without realizing that the woman was a spirit rather than a living person, he did not abandon his love even after learning the truth. It is said that even after the woman departed for the afterlife, he never remarried but left the secular world to live as a hermit, gathering medicinal herbs.
So why did the author create a love story between the living and the dead—a love that would be difficult to realize in reality?
First, by examining the social context of the time, we can analyze why Yang-saeng had no choice but to fall in love with a spirit. Considering Yang-saeng’s circumstances, he was a poor, long-time bachelor who had lost his parents at an early age and lived in a single room rented from a temple. The fact that Yang-saeng fell in love with a spirit suggests that, given his circumstances, it would have been difficult for him to marry a real woman. Therefore, we can infer that during the Joseon Dynasty, there were elderly bachelors who were unable to marry due to financial hardship, and the work can be seen as a realistic reflection of this reality. This fact can also be confirmed in an entry from the ‘Annals of the Joseon Dynasty’. An entry in the ‘Annals of the Joseon Dynasty’ dated May 28 of the 24th year of King Jungjong’s reign states: “Impoverished members of the scholar-official class, even when their children reach marriageable age, consider it a source of shame if the dowry is even slightly insufficient, and thus fail to perform the marriage rites. Consequently, there are those who, having reached adulthood and missed the appropriate time, remain unmarried.” This confirms that there were cases where people were unable to marry due to financial hardship.
Next, analyzing this in relation to the author, this plot device can be seen as an indirect expression of the circumstances of the time. Kim Si-seup was one of the “Six Loyal Ministers” who withdrew from political life at the age of 21 upon hearing the news of Prince Suyang’s usurpation of the throne. It is generally believed that he wrote ‘Geum-o Shin-hwa’ while staying on Geum-o Mountain in Gyeongju during his subsequent wanderings after leaving politics. As one of the Six Loyal Ministers who opposed King Sejo’s usurpation of the throne, Kim Si-seup was a literati burdened by the anxieties of his era.
According to Jo Dong-il, literati of the early Joseon Dynasty wrote novels despite the prevailing social convention of the time, which did not properly value the genre. These writers generally belonged to the marginalized scholar-official class, and it is said that they used novels to comprehensively address the problems of their environment and society while expressing their own views. Considering that he was one of the Six Loyal Subjects and led a life of wandering after leaving politics in opposition to King Sejo’s usurpation of the throne, ‘Manboksa Jeopo-gi’ can be interpreted in connection with Kim Si-seup’s critical perspective on King Sejo’s usurpation. In other words, the woman who is unjustly sacrificed due to the Japanese pirate invasion can be seen as a figure representing King Danjong, who was stripped of his kingship by King Sejo’s usurpation; and Yang-saeng, who has withdrawn from real-world power but demonstrates a love that transcends death, can be viewed as a character representing Kim Si-seup himself—one who remains loyal to King Danjong to the very end.
Furthermore, the fact that the affection between Yang-saeng and the woman’s spirit in ‘The Tale of Manboksa Temple’ is portrayed as unalterable and unaffected by external influences reveals the author’s resolve to uphold integrity and principles without compromising with a corrupt reality. This resolve is further confirmed by Kim Si-seup’s decision to withdraw from political life upon hearing the news of Sejo’s usurpation of the throne.
Furthermore, in ‘The Tale of Manboksa Temple’, the male and female protagonists traverse the earthly realm and the spirit world in an attempt to fulfill their love; the inclusion of these fantastical elements suggests that the author sought to resolve in the fictional world what could not be achieved in reality. In other words, since love with a spirit is premised on the impossibility of its realization in reality, the author used ‘Manboksa Jeopo-gi’ to resolve the dissatisfaction stemming from the necessity of acknowledging—despite his unwavering loyalty to Danjong—that Danjong could never return to the throne.
Free Love and the Author’s Intent
An examination of the content in Lee Deok-hong’s ‘Bubuyubyeoldo’ reveals the marriage customs encouraged during the Joseon Dynasty. The phrase, “When marrying for the first time, be extremely cautious and be sure to learn the other’s name through a matchmaker,” indicates that marriages arranged by matchmakers were encouraged during the Joseon Dynasty. Furthermore, during the early Joseon period, free interaction between men and women was restricted, and marriages based on personal choice were even more difficult to arrange. However, the free interactions between men and women and the fulfillment of their love depicted in ‘Manboksa Jeopo-gi’ appear to contradict these historical circumstances. Yang-saeng and the woman’s spirit meet without a matchmaker and develop feelings for one another without having formally married. This plot device, which contradicts the social norms of the time, is noteworthy in that the novel reflects reality, and here we can examine the author’s intent in creating such a scenario.
First, let us analyze this in light of the social conditions of the early Joseon period. According to Lee Gwang-gu’s ‘A Historical Study of the Korean Family’, prior to the late Goryeo period—that is, from the Goguryeo era onward and before the patriarchal system was firmly established under the influence of Confucian thought—the union of men and women was characterized by a strong element of free marriage. Consequently, the act of forming a relationship between a man and a woman was naturally determined by the mutual consent of the parties involved. This custom of free marriage gradually faded with the onset of Yuan rule. While the Yuan Dynasty subjugated Goryeo by force, it also bound the Goryeo royal family to the Yuan imperial family through marriage, turning Goryeo into a vassal state and taking many women from Goryeo. Consequently, parents with daughters sought to arrange early marriages to prevent their children from being sent to the Yuan. Consequently, early marriage became prevalent from the late Goryeo period onward, and at this time, the authority to decide on marriages naturally fell to the parents.
This shows that while free marriage was prevalent in the late Goryeo period, arranged marriage became more prevalent under Yuan rule. The ‘Geum-o Shin-hwa’, written during the early Joseon period, can be seen as reflecting the circumstances of this period of transition. The traces of free marriage that still remained in the early Joseon period during this transition can be observed through the free love between Yang Saeng and the woman in ‘Manboksa Jeopo-gi’. Furthermore, considering research indicating that arranged marriages were primarily prevalent among the upper classes in the early Joseon period and only began to take root among the lower classes by the late Joseon period, it is evident that arranged marriages were not uniformly practiced across all social classes in the early Joseon period, and traces of the Goryeo-era custom of free marriage still remained. In other words, the free romance between Yang-saeng and the woman can be seen not as a purely fictional creation by the author, but rather as a reflection of the early Joseon period, a time of transition from free marriage to arranged marriage.
Furthermore, their free romance can also be interpreted as reflecting the author’s own views on the matter. Through the relationship between Yang-saeng and the woman—one that would have been difficult to accept in Joseon society—Kim Si-seup seriously raises the issue of romantic relationships. In the novel, the couple’s decision to form a relationship without their parents’ permission is forgiven, and their relationship is formally recognized by the woman’s parents. While the author asserts that a woman’s chastity is an ethical norm, he simultaneously expresses a dual perspective: that following one’s instincts takes precedence over the norm of chastity and constitutes a truly authentic life.
Within a single novel, the author presents a positive view of both free romance between men and women and marriages sanctioned by parents—that is, both free marriage and arranged marriage. Through this, Kim Si-seup points out the problem of people being unable to marry due to the custom of arranged marriage prevalent in the early Joseon period and presents a new model of marriage intended to address this issue. Through his work, he reveals the idea that while parental consent is important, romance and marriage are ultimately a matter between the parties involved, and therefore the will of the individuals must be respected even more. In other words, by advocating for both free marriage and arranged marriage, he expresses his view of marriage as a harmonious blend of these two elements.
The Social Context and the Author’s Consciousness as Reflected in Love
Thus far, we have analyzed the two characteristic aspects of love depicted in “Manboksa Jeopo-gi” in relation to the social conditions of the time and the author’s consciousness. When analyzed in light of the social context, the fact that Yang Saeng and the spirit of the deceased woman fall in love can be seen as reflecting the reality that there were older bachelors at the time who were unable to marry due to a lack of financial means. When analyzed from the author’s perspective, Kim Si-seup—one of the Six Loyal Subjects—criticized King Sejo’s usurpation of the throne and expressed his literary consciousness by vowing to uphold his principles and integrity without compromising with the unjust realities of the time.
The fact that Yang-saeng and the woman engaged in a free romance, when analyzed in light of the social context, reflects the transition from free marriage to arranged marriage during the early Joseon period. From the author’s perspective, this can be seen as expressing the belief that the opinions of the individuals getting married should be prioritized.
By analyzing the love depicted in ‘Manboksa Jeopo-gi’, we can see that although the novel is based on fiction, it also serves as a means of indirectly portraying the social conditions of the era and the author’s thoughts. In particular, the unrealistic premise of love between the living and the dead, along with the concept of free love—which ran counter to the marriage customs of the time—cannot be viewed merely as devices designed to create a bizarre and fantastical story. The love depicted in the work serves as a crucial device that reveals the social realities of the time, Kim Si-seup’s contemporary concerns, and the author’s refusal to compromise with reality.
