<흥부전>에 내재된 권선징악의 함정 : ‘富者’와 ‘貧者’를 향한 당대의 요구

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine how the theme of encouraging good and punishing evil that appears on the surface of Heungbujeon hides actual problems and rationalizes the rigidity of the division between rich and poor, through social aspects of the late Joseon Dynasty, which are projected on the work. Although Heungbujeon tells a story of brotherhood and encouraging good and punishing evil, through two characters, Heungbu and Nolbu, the ethical message of the work is somewhat questionable, in that the story is organized by connecting the actual problem of ‘rich and poor(貧富)’ to the ideal worlds of ‘good and evil(善惡)’. The narrative in which poor but good Heungbu is blessed, while rich but evil Nolbu is ruined, is not only a hopeful one that a good person can overcome actual hardship and even poverty, but is also an unpractical one.BR This paper attempted to understand the structure in the work as a message that sought to maintain order in those days, by approaching Heunbu’s management of property and Nolbu’s squandering, the main narratives of Heungbujeon, from the perspective of ethology. In other words, it tried to explain Nolbu who becomes an evil man, and Heunbu who is embodied as a good man, through distribution and ‘Gweonbun(勸分),’ the virtue required of the rich who emerged in the late Joseon Dynasty, and ‘goodness(善),’ the ethics necessary for the poor. In addition, it suggests that ‘encouraging good and punishing evil(勸善懲惡)’ in Korean classic novels can be understood in various ways, by more closely examining the social implications contained in the dichotomic structure of Korean classic novels, which is set on the surface of them.