Women in traditional Korean society used to live a marginalized existence. The majority of them, fulfilling their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers, died without leaving their names for posterity. However, these women also had their own ambitions, the capacity and will to accomplish things, and the dignity and strength to stand up for themselves throughout their arduous lives.

In this edition of Themes, we take a look at five works of classical Korean literature featuring women who are portrayed in an empowering light. Unyeong, although she bore the double yoke of being a woman and a palace maid, never gave up on her ambitions. Hwang Jini, although she was a courtesan, never lost her lofty sense of pride, and composed sijo which reflected her bold and unrestrained imagination. Dendong Eomi, although she was widowed at a young age, remarried three times, and had to live an existence riddled with tragedy and hardship, never gave up on life, instead pushing through her wretched fate and the tyrannies of the world to grow into a strong and mature woman. The stories of Lady Park and Princess Bari are tales of growth in which the strength of the female characters is brought to the forefront. Left isolated in confinement inside the women’s living quarters because of her unsightly appearance, Lady Park manages to transform into a dazzlingly beautiful heroine over the course of the story. Princess Bari, although she would have every right to despise her parents who mercilessly abandoned her as a child, instead embarks on a painful journey to save them. She sacrifices her life as a wife and a mother in exchange for a magic elixir with the power to bring her parents and the world back to life, before finally being reborn as a goddess who guides the deceased into the underworld.

A palace maid, a courtesan, a commoner, a noblewoman, a shaman goddess—all the female characters mentioned above each hold different social standings, are subject to divergent fates, and are bestowed with their own distinct dormant potential. In these characters, readers will discover inspiring women who managed to overcome the trials and limitations set on them by their fates.

Author Hwang Jini et al.
Translated into English by Ko Jeong-hee & Justin M. Byron-Davies
Publisher ASIA Publishers
Year of Publication 2019

In this sijo written by Hwang Jini, the narrator expresses her longing for her lover on the longest night of the year. She shares her feelings of love and pining for the one she dearly misses as she spends the long winter night alone. The narrator makes a display of the Korean language in all its beauty as she writes in an attempt to reign in her tempestuous emotions.

Author Unknown
Translated into modern Korean by Lee Sang-gu
Publisher Munhakdongne Publishing Group
Year of Publication 2018

This is a story originally written in Hangeul which depicts the exploits of the talented and virtuous Lady Park. One day, a man called Lee Deuk-chun decides to marry his son, Lee Shi-baek, to the daughter of another man called Park Cheo-sa. However,Lee Shi-baek, finding Lady Park too ugly for his liking, refuses to even look at her. He later regrets his actions when he discovers Lady Park has changed into a beautiful woman and begs her to forgive him. This story is set against a real historical backdrop, taking place during the Qing invasion of the Joseon dynasty in the seventeenth century.

Author Unknown
Translated into modern Korean by Cho Hyun-soul
Publisher Humanist Publishing Group
Year of Publication 2013

Unyeong, who is trapped inside Prince Anpyeong’s palace where she is kept as a maid, meets a young nobleman called Kim Jinsa by chance one day and falls in love with him at first sight. The two embark on a forbidden and dangerous love story which finally ends in tragedy. This classical work of literature is composed of both prose as well as poems exchanged between the two lovers.

Author Unknown
Translated into modern Korean by Park Hye-sook
Publisher Dolbegae Publishers
Year of Publication 2011

Dendong Eomi, who was born as a commoner and the daughter of a petty provincial town official, gets married at the age offifteen only to be widowed shortly after. She is forced to remarry three times. She finally manages to give birth to a son, but he gets badly burned and becomes physically impaired as a result. This work originally written in Hangeul paints a vivid picture of the lives of women at the time of the Joseon Dynasty and takes place during a spring custom called Hwajeon nori, when women would go on a picnic to watch the seasonal flowers and make rice pancakes adorned with azaleas.

ㅣ Princess Bari

Narrator Kim Seok-chul
Translated into modern Korean by Lee Kyung-ha
Publisher Dolbegae Publishers
Year of Publication 2019

The protagonist, Princess Bari, is abandoned by her parents as a child just for being born as a woman, but nevertheless decides to save them from the hands of death. The kind of hardships she is made to go through in the Kingdom of Western Territories under Western Heavens reflect the typical struggles endured by women in traditional Korean society. Since the protagonist saves her father, who threw her away for seeing her as worthless just because of her sex, and that she even goes on the save the world, this tale can be said to portray women in a positive and optimistic light.

* The above information is based on the original Korean works, and their translations can be found in the links below.

Lee Joo-young

Lee Joo-young is an adjunct professor at the Seoul National University Basic Education Center. She holds a bachelor's degree in Korean language education from Seoul National University, where she also completed her graduate studies, having received a PhD for her thesis on the topic of education of traditional Korean poems and songs. She has given lectures at many universities on a wide variety of subjects, such as Korean language education and classical literature, and currently teaches writing at Seoul National University. Since 2019, she has also been giving lectures on classical Korean literature to foreign students at the Translation Academy of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.