A Study Of Domestic Songs

In Korean Feudal times, with the introduction to Confucianism and accomplishmentof the culture of feudal domestic disciplines, women couldn't keep their stable position in society, even nor at home, and they had to lead a bitter life. Although they were born historically as an independent character, women had to experience scorn of being inferior and incompetent, compared to men who were considered as the head of a family. What's worse, there were no distinct ways to improve such unreasonable social views at all, for they were thought of as normal systems at that time. Trapped in the feudal etiquette of "seven chains of punishment" and "three chains of virtue" women couldn't have any freedom at all. However, realizing their self-worth, they made great efforts to break away from the unreasonable systems and conditions they were confronted with. They began to reconsider their position and indicate their consciousness, using domestic songs which show willingness to improve existing problems and their complaint. So it is the most attracting part that female consciousness in domestic songs is vividly depicted in a literary way through the full resistence and criticism that women could take under the control of firm Confucian sense.The concept of domestic songs has been mentioned in this thesis to study female consciousness of domestic songs. Domestic songs are defined as the songs whose writers are women or in which women take part in the writing group and are mainly enjoyed by women, even though they are written by men. They also belong to domestic literature once called "wind" or "roll " among the noble domestic women.The purpose to study this thesis is to cast light on the conventional Koreanwomen's consciousness, taking the changes of the women's life shown in domestic songs as the heart.That is to say, its purpose is not only to understand the traits of domestic songs well from the view offemale literature, attentive to true and fine feelings, but to study how the Confucian feudal household discipline, the scorn on women which is based on such unreasonable discipline, and their pursuit of freedom appear in domestic songs, with the change of times.In order to study the female consciousness, this thesis is classified into three chapters and sections. In the second chapter, the social background where the domestic songs came into being has to be divided into three parts like "virtue of no learning", "seven chains of punishment and three chains of virtue", "worship of female martyrs caused by non-remarriage rules", which is essential to study Korean women's social position. In the third chapter, the women's life in domestic songs is divided into "taking lessons", "roaming gardens", and "complaint about a sad life". In the fourth chapter, female consciousness is mainly analyzed in three sides which are "entire discovery of women's self, "criticism of conventional marriage" and " aspirations for the equality between male and female".To study female consciousness in the domestic songs, the methods of criticism of literary sociology, historism, and feminism are also used.Domestic songs which are not for noble men but for women show the women'slife in noble families and their realistic consciousness by singing the female problems related to them.In short, it makes all the difference that domestic songs , different from other female literature, were created in the set of the whole Korean women who suffered from the Confucian restraint and so depicted their life, even in the agony from Confucian logic, taking conformity and virginity as their creeds.