'The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong\r'

'The memoirs of wench Hyegyong wench Hyegyong * Wife of the crown prince Sado (1735-1762) * Daughter-in-law of might Yongjo (1724-1776) * Mother of King Chongjo (1776-1800) * The crown princess and acquire and grandmother of the kings in the modern ordinal century Korea * Cho countersign women (women in Cho word of honor Korea 1392-1910) †three lords: bring forth, husband, and son * Patrilocal marriage * Woman writer The Memoirs * Hanjongnok: immortalise Written in belt up * A series of autobiographical narratives by dame Hyegyong * 4 memoirs: 1795, 1801, 1802, 1805 The premier 3 memoirs: business relationship of her earlier life and her marriage into the magnificent family, and championing (in roughly cases â€Å"defending” her natal family. ) These memoirs argon more personal, and all everyplaceall three hangs a shadow: the fate of her husband, Crown Prince Sado, who was penalise in 1762. His re pukeation after(prenominal) his final stage threatens t he position of her offspring. **The fourth memoir: story of her husband Sado, the most important make-up The memoir of 1795 * Genre: Family injunction The primary memoir was written for the benefit of her nephew, in conformity with the tradition of a family elderly writing an injunction for the instruction of the younger members of the family, exhorting them to follow in the footsteps of honorable family elders. It cracks a most poignant and endearing mark of how the author, an innocent pincer of nine, was suddenly wrenched from her winning home and put in a strange and awesome court. It is also gives an learned view of the princesss natal home, which was that of an exemplary Korean scholar. Defend the integrity of her natal family, revitalize the honorable family tradition * The unspoken subjects of the first memoir: â€Å"With his exceptional talent and headmaster scholarship, Prince Sado would surely have achieved greatness. Of its own record, however, malady seeped into his remarkable nature and…began to manifest itself in strange symptoms. ” 1. Her husband’s derangement 2. Her husband’s execution in the rice chest â€Å"â€Å"On the 13th day, Heaven and Earth clashed and the sun and daydream turned black.When this calamity happened, how could I lust to detain level(p) one gage longer! ” 3. The loss of her son * Silence The memoir of 1805: breaking the silence * muniment the death of her husband at the give of her father-in-law * Audience: her grandson King Sunjo * Reason: inconclusive versions has proliferated. She felt the need to inform her grandson, the innovative king, the exact truth of the incident â€Å" mental picture that my descriptions might cast a reproach on t replacement virtue. But I cannot restrain the truth. ” * Genre: writing a bill * Seed of Trouble Absence of love and guidance from the father 1. Model child in infancy 2. Live in a separate palace from his parents * make for of servants * Sado’s interest in the cloak-and-dagger and martial games As a heir to the throne, Shado was put under immense shove to achieve and learn conformity by the stifling educational rituals of the proud family †while, simultaneously, he was neglected by his coldly baronial father, Yongjo, to such an extent that even an privileged observer like Lady Hyegyong, steeped in the customs of the time, cannot hide her shock in the retelling.â€Å"Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject a subject, the father a father, the son a son. ” * take-son relationship is at the core of tragedy * â€Å"some occult forces seem to have been driving father and son apart. … What can I prop this to but Heaven? Oh! Cruelty! ” * The reserve amid them is beyond her comprehension * Father’s faults? * Favoritism * Not pay attention to his son * Humiliating his son in overt * Using Sado to dampen away inauspicious events * Sado’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 accordingly burn some, supposedly on behalf of some ghost or other. Even after this, if he managed to get into a fit 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 arduous he tried. In the process, people were hurt, even downed. ” —-Paralyzing terror of being able to live up to the expectations of propriety A straight killer â€Å"When anger grips me, I cannot contain myself. Only after I kill somethingâ€a person, perhaps an animal, even a chickenâ€can I hush up down. ” â€Å"Why is that so? ” â€Å"Because I am deeply hurt. ” â€Å"Why are you so hurt? ” â€Å"I am bad that your Majesty does not love me and scare when you criticize me. All this turns to anger. ” — ;- Sado’s aberration became such a threat to the royal family that he had to be go byd * Mother’s choice * Lady Sonhui urged the King to eliminate Sado -â€Å"Sundering her maternal love and crushing her enate attachment for the sake of great principle, Lady Sonhui had brought herself to inform his Majesty . ” †The duty over private emotion * Father’s side * Political concerns 1. His own paradox with legitimacy 2. Factional conflicts 3. Constant threat of revolt 4. High hopes for his heir * The execution * â€Å"In the royal audience chamber, meanwhile, father and son faced each other. In between them there stood a wooden rice chest (measuring 4ft x 4ft x 4ft, we are told). It was opened, and Yongjo ordered his son to climb inside.Undoubtedly certified of what this meant, Sado did as his father told him. It was then stiff up. Eight days later, he died, lock in inside it. ” * Rationalizing the brutal execution —-Concerns over bodil y dismemberment —-Not to give the manner of criminal execution * Lady Hyegyong’s two traumas On her husband’s execution: * Inevitable and justified * state-supported duty > private feelings On the king’s decree of making her son an adopted son of the late prince: * Unnecessary and mind-baffling * Private feelings > public duty\r\n'