The Story of Hong Gildong Read Free Page A

Taejun’s interpretation of
The Story of Hong Gildong
, people who have never actually read the work might expect some description of an egalitarian system established by Hong Gildong on Yul Island. They might be surprised to find out that there is no such thing in the text, as it offers only a few sparse descriptions of the happy state of its people. After Hong Gildong defeats the King of Yul and ascends the throne, he “ruled with such benevolence that his subjects drummed their full stomachs and sang happy ballads. ‘A time of peace and prosperity has come, like in the days of Yo and Sun.’” The last two names are references to Yao and Shun, two semimythical rulers of ancient China who were regarded as ideal monarchs. Later on, after the episode involving the death of Hong Gildong’s mother, it is related that “Through the benevolent rule of the king, the country was at peace and saw rich harvests, the people feeling secure with their households well stocked. No inauspicious incident disturbed the country.” These passages are the entirety of the descriptions of the state of Yul Island under Hong Gildong’s rule. In actuality, they are nothing more than depictions of people’s contentment under the reign of a good and able monarch, not of a novel system of governance to which the word “utopia” could be applied. In other words, there is no evidence to support the idea that the story tells of astate with a political and social system radically different from Joseon’s, one devoid of hierarchy or caste.
    What Hong Gildong establishes on Yul Island is, in fact, a kingdom with himself as an absolute monarch, and references to the titles he grants his officials indicate that he essentially replicates the Joseon political system in his realm. He also adopts the one-legitimate-wife-per-man policy as he makes one of the women he rescued from the
uldong
monsters his wife but takes the other two as his concubines. The secondary sons by the concubines are given the ranks of
gun
(a royal title for a prince) and
bek
(the highest rank of nobility) and sent out to live on Jae Island, which evidently becomes a subordinate territory to Yul Island. It is as if Hong Gildong the king has completely forgotten his earlier frustrations as a secondary son. This points to the traditional nature of the narrative, which depicts the aspirations and the ultimate success of the hero in Confucian and monarchist terms. It would be highly anachronistic then to depict Hong’s kingdom as revolutionary or utopian, rather than seeing it in the proper historical context of a Joseon dynasty fantasy of an idyllic land ruled over by an ideal king who is modeled after monarchs of ancient, mythical times.
    Whatever kind of political interpretation can be made of the work, its central purpose is not one of ideological advocacy. The moving portrayal of the hero’s frustration as a secondary son, his role as the leader of outlaws, and his challenges against authority figures, from local officials to the king, can all be read as critiques of the status quo. But one must also consider the fact that Hong Gildong’s ambitions are always couched in traditional terms of desiring to work as a government official. As an intrepid and invincible leader of loyal bandits, he never seriously tries to change the society he lives in, and he ultimately submits to his monarch once he is granted an official position.
The Story of Hong Gildong
is first and foremost a narrative of entertainment about an extraordinary hero who achieves great things despite the initial disadvantage of his birth.
    Ultimately,
The Story of Hong Gildong
should be appreciatednot only as one of the best prose narratives produced during the Joseon dynasty, but also as the finest example of popular fiction that appeared in the course of the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth. As a product of the last period of the dynasty, the