조선의 통치체제와 춘향전의 역사적 성취

The subject of Chunhyangjeon is scrutinized only in the historical context in this paper. 14 versions of the novel from around the 19thcentury are examined. Thecriminal code of the Joseon state stipulated illegality of a magistrate’s sleeping with a Gisaeng or female entertainer and designated punishment accordingly, although this was all but always ignored in everyday life. Because Chunhyang’s defiance of her magistrate’s order to serve him was legitimate by both the law and people’s consciousness, it cannot be said that Chunhyangjeon put forward a new social order to replace the old status system. Chunhyang claimed her right to choose her lover and maintained her chastity. However, the social ideology of Neo-Confucianism in the Joseon period had already acknowledged that all people could realize human virtues --loyalty, filial piety, and chastity. So neither can it be said Chunhyang’s dignity opened a new horizon never trodden before. The features of oppression and corruption fade out from the magistrate in the last version of the novel examined in this paper and the existence of state power behind the official becomes obvious for both the authors and readers. The confrontation of Chunhyang against the magistrate turns out to be one against not an evil official but the state power itself. Nevertheless, the cause of the resistance was not a new one, as confirmed by the fact that Chunhyang relied upon the king of the Joseon dynasty. The progressiveness of Chunhyangjeon toward the new era is found in the vivid description of Chunhyang’s confrontation against the magistrate who is a representation of state power.