과거설화의 유형과 의미 연구 = A Study on Type and Meaning of the Tales on the State Examination( Gwageo)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper did research on the type and meaning of tales with focus on the state examination(hereinafter, ‘Gwageo’, which have been handed down orally between people. Here, this paper classified the tales on Gawgeo as four types, such as Prophetic-sign success in Gwageo type, Assisted success in Gwageo type, Ability-based success in Gwageo type, and Ilicit success in Gwageo type. First, the ‘Prophetic-sign success in Gwageo’ includes the content featuring a person``s passing in Gwageo by a prophetic, revelatory omen suggesting the fate of passing Gwageo like a dream, one``s divination sign, and face-reading. That such a prophetic sign is exposed to the introductory part of a story emphasizes the ultimate cause of passing Gwageo, and invests the flow of the event for a main character``s passing Gwageo with probability. Second, in the ‘Assisted success in Gwageo’, a king, deity, or vindictive spirit appears as a patron and give assistance to the main character directly or indirectly so that he can pass Gwageo which is really hard for the main character to pass on his own. This can be judged to reflect common people``s reliant psychology that it``s definitely necessary to get another``s assistance above all to pass Gawgeo. Third, ‘Ability-based success in Gwageo’ includes the content featuring that a main character, who is equipped with excellent ability, passed Gwageo by overcoming all sorts of hardships although he is poor and lowly in his social status. That the main character, who is poor and an underdog of lowly social status, creates success story by tiding over the ordeals given by the top dogs of upper class can be regarded as the appearance of a folk hero other than an aristocratic hero. Fourth, the ‘Illicit success in Gwageo’ includes the content featuring a satire on social conditions where an incompetent person passed Gwageo dishonestly by bribing a proctor. A scholar impersonated as the main character continued to fail Gwageo due to such an unreasonable reality although he was competent. Thereupon, the scholar came to satirize and criticize such social conditions of illicit success in Gwageo by setting the fable titled ‘Feathered animals’ song contest`` as an example. Here, the tale is exposing the demand for rectifying the unreasonable reality rightly together with the purpose of criticizing and reporting the reality of Gwageo corruption scandals. Onto the tale on Gwageo, there are the people``s dreams and desires for Gwageo projected in civic-administration-centered society. Though the actual reality wasn``t so, tales were weaving a story as if there were not any rich-poor & high-low discrimination in society. The very Gwageo in tales was the performance testing examination through which one can overcome social-status discrimination and achieve the rise of social standing, and also the gateway of equal opportunity. To the people, the success in Gwageo was regarded as transcendental desires to make all dreams come true in a single stroke, and as a sacred rite of passage as well.