The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong - Essay Example

Details The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong Introduction The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong contains four autobiographicalnarratives. They are written by an eighteenth century noble woman named Lady Hyegyong. She married the Crown Prince Sado at the age of nine and later on, Prince Sado fell ill and was killed by King Yongjo. A look into the narrative proves that King Yongjo had a lot of expectations about Prince Sado, but as he was very poor at parenting, he could not treat his son well. Deprived of the much needed parental care and support, Prince Sado developed an immature personality. This development was met by the king with even harder punishments and disdain, thus making the prince desperate, and then a psychotic. Relation between King Yongjo and Prince Sado- default or design? Admittedly, King Yongjo was very happy when he got an heir who would continue his kingdom. With his short-sightedness and eagerness to see the Prince mature enough to take up the kingdom, he sent the three months old prince from the Chippok-hon Side royal residence to Chosung-jon Mansion. Also, as a result of his shortsightedness, he recalled Governess Choe and other maids under her who were formerly with King Kyongjong and Queen Dowager O. In fact, these maids had no loyalty towards King Yongjo, and hence, the little prince received no closeness or warmth at the hands of those maids. Thus, from the very beginning, Prince Sado was placed to move on the wrong track. As is evident from the narrative, Sado was very brilliant as a child. He began to walk at four months, and at six months, he was able to respond when his father called. Also in seven months, he could identify four cardinal directions. Moreover, by the age of seven years, he gained knowledge about sixty Chinese characters. In addition, he was very caring, loving, and obedient towards his parents. However, in the absence of parental care and strong hands to guide him, the prince grew in a lot of freedom as the maids who were responsible to care him did not do their duty well. However, as the child was well aware of the consequences if his father identified the mistakes he committed, the child was forced to lie in order to protect himself from punishment. As the child grew more and more fearful of his father, the king grew more and more suspicious about the nature of the prince. Admittedly, King Yongjo was a clever king who was fast and accurate. Contrary to his expectations, Prince Sado was slow and hesitant to communicate. Thus, many a times, he could not respond in a proper way to the fast questions of his father. As his father grew more and more angry and suspicious, he grew more fearful. Thus, this basic difference in their characters led to more complex situations as time progressed. As time passed, there was growing degree of estrangement between both of them. Thus, as the prince again and again failed to perform up to the expectations of his father, fatherly love and affection were superseded by resentment. In fact, it is a rather reasonable assumption that this ill treatment was the reason behind the obscure illness the prince faced at the age of twelve. Here, one has to consider the fact that the time the prince was in Kyongchun-jon, very near to his mother and sister, he lived a life of happiness and he studied well. However, as he was removed from there to Chuphui-dang Hall, far away from his mother and sister, the prince again develops his pathetic attitude. In addition, the narrative reveals that the king and Lady Sonhui were so severely hit by the death of their daughter Princess Hwapyong that they totally ignored the young prince and his welfare. Thus, it becomes evident that the prince was a person who was neglected, to a considerable extent, by the people who were supposed to care and love. The narrative presents no instances where the king tries to love the young prince or to instruct him in a friendly way. The relationship was much more of ignorance and displeasure. For instance, when King Yongjo was ill, there came a number of nobles including Queen Dowager Inwon. However, the King did not hesitate to show the crowd the toys used by the prince, thus embarrassing him in front of all the important guests. The death of Princess Hwapyong was another blow to Prince Sado. When she was alive, she used to protect his brother from the severe maltreatment from the part of the King. However, after her death, there was no one to stop the king, and this made the prince grow less concerned about his parents. Instead, he indulged in all forms of entertainment he could. As time passed, the accusations became severe in nature as the Crown Prince proved his inability in the state council meetings too. When he took a decision without reporting to the king, he was in danger of getting scolded for taking independent decisions, and when he made reports, he was abused for delaying decisions. Admittedly, the torture was so severe that the prince was even blamed for all issues ranging from even cold and hunger. This total lack of protection and care made the prince psychotic. He developed delusions, and the pent up anger was at times unleashed on the people around him. He started attacking and killing many people around him. As is evident from the narrative, even when the king directed him to enter the rice chest, he did it without hesitation. Thus, it becomes evident that Prince Sado’s fate was, to a great extent, designed by the kings over expectations and negligence. As a result, he developed such a personality that made his situation even worse. Though there were other factions like the ruling Noron fraction and the maids who looked after him who played their part in deciding Sado’s fate, the most important role was, admittedly, that of the king. Princess Hwapyong and her role Hwapyong is King Yongjo’s daughter. One can see Princess Hwapyong very affectionate towards Prince Sado throughout her short life. For example, when there was extreme torture unleashed by the king on Prince Sado, it was Princes Hwapyong who used to stop the king from doing so. In addition, she had no hesitation in supporting her brother when he was in need of emotional and moral support. Also, she openly criticized the king’s lack of affection towards Sado. Admittedly, she appears as a character that fully understood the reason behind her brother’s irrational behavior, and she was truly compassionate towards him. Evidently, when Prince Sado was near to his mother and sister at Kyongchun-jon, he was much calmer and happier because of their presence. Also, the death of Princes Hwapyong was a terrible blow to Prince Sado as he lost the moral support he enjoyed. However, she got very little place in the Annals of the Choson Dynasty. This is so probably because she played a relatively unimportant role in the history. The whole period was centered around King Yongjo and Prince Sado. In addition, she was in support of Sado, and was fully aware about the negative attitude the king had towards Prince Sado. So, giving her too much attention could have changed the very nature of history. Instead of simply presenting Prince Sado as a lunatic who had to be killed, it would have become necessary to depict King Yongjo in a bad light. Probably to avoid this situation that would shake the foundations of the Choson dynasty, the Annals of the Choson Dynasty avoided her. However, the most probable cause is that the Dynasty wanted to erase the presence of that generation from the history. This is evident from the fact that on Prince Sado’s death, the king made Prince Chongjo the adopted son of the deceased Prince Hyojang. The effort was to avoid the presence of Sado in the history of the dynasty, and in the effort, his sister Princess Hwapyong too was avoided. The royal court At this juncture, one cannot turn a blind eye towards the considerable role played by the royal court in the case of Sado. Admittedly, in framing Prince Sado, the ruling Noron fraction played an important role. It was this faction that prepared the memorial in which Prince Sado was accused of a large number of allegations ranging from killing a concubine to frequenting female shamans in a village. Admittedly, punishing Prince Sado meant the end of the Choson dynasty as his son would not be allowed to take up the throne. So, the king had no other way other than handling him in such a way. This helped the king to avoid troubling the dynasty as Sado’s son was allowed to take up the throne. Female characters and their social situation As it becomes evident from the narrative, females had a less important role in the social life during that period. They had less chances of controlling even their own life and fate. For example, Lady Hyegyong’s marriage with Prince Sado took place at the age of nine when neither her mother nor she wanted to get her married. The females of that time were considered as mere artifacts. This is evident from the large number of concubines the kings and princes enjoyed despite the presence of their wives. Also, one can see Lady Hyegyong becoming a mute witness to her husband’s death. In addition, on his death, she was demoted to a commoner and was sent back home. Though her son was allowed to inherit the throne, Lady Hyegyong seems enjoying not even a single moment in her life. This was true about many other women in the narrative too. Thus, one can conclude that the women of that era had a rather troubled life in the male-dominated society. Purposes of the various memoirs A look into the work proves that the intention of the Memoir of 1795 was mainly to protect the honor of her family and herself. For example, she claims that she decided not to commit suicide because she was more concerned about her duty to the society and to the dynasty than to herself. Similarly, she tries to prove that her father too was a man who gave more attention to the needs of the society than to personal honor. For example, even after the death of Prince Sado, he continued to function in office in support of his grandson. Similar was the case of her brother Hong Nagim. He had to surrender his honor in the effort to save his father’s life. Thus, the first memoir is more intended to protect her family honor by depicting the reasons that made her and her father make compromises of personal and family honor. However, the Memoir of 1801 was more the result of utter frustration and anger. She saw the execution of her own brother Hong Nagim, and there was the execution of her uncle Hong Inhan in 1776. Here, in this memoir, she presents a gloomy view of life as she revealed the feeling that the heavens had unleashed more troubles than she deserved. If the first memoir was an effort to find a balance between expectations and fate, in the second one, it is totally shattered through various tragedies. Here again, one can see the effort to describe the factors that led to her favorite brother’s execution. According to her, it was his scruples and devotion that led to his untimely death. Also, she tries to present all these incidents as a result of the decline in social order. The next memoir that of 1802, shows how Sado was honored by his son and grandson, thus saving their honor. In addition, one can see Lady Hyegyong resorting to defending her father and her husband Sado, but in both the cases, she fails to go in to the detail. In the case of Sado, she is hesitant to go into the details of his cruelty. In addition, though she denies the fact that her father provided the required rice chest, she fails to provide the details of the incident. Thus, this memoir too is an effort to protect her family honor. The last memoir, admittedly, is an effort to present Sado in a new light. Though she did not try to hide the atrocities committed by him, she develops a new story where the reader easily understands how King Yongjo was the main reason behind the pathetic situation of Prince Sado. Thus, by presenting a story where Sado’s illness was the result of lack of love and care, a result of rejection, she makes the readers think twice before supporting King Yongjo’s killing his own son. Thus, here, she tries to present Sado in a different light. Works Cited Haboush, JaHyun Kim. The Memories of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth- Century Korea. USA: University of California Press, 1996. Print. Read More