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During the Koryö (918-1392) to Chosön (1392-1910) transition, constructing a patrilineal society was one of the state's primary goals. From the early Chosön, the state implemented the Confucian style of marriage and allowed men to have one legitimate wife from the same social status and take lower status women as concubines. As women of different status came to live in the same household, the new marriage practice generated tensions between wives and concubines. The concubinage system was already an intrinsic part of the social fabric in Korean history, but the meaning of conjugal relations shifted during the Chosön period and the tension between women of different status became more visible. By using marriage as a site, the aim of this article is to examine how the state intervened in intimate domains such as emotions, sexuality, and familial virtue and how the state emphasized and regulated gendered emotions such as jealousy to embrace Confucian patriarchal values in the domestic space. By examining wives' jealousy that often led to brutal violence against concubines, this article unveils the cultural meaning of jealousy between partners in the context of Confucian patriarchal and hierarchical society. Furthermore, it demonstrates the power dynamics in conjugal relations and the vulnerability of concubines and how the Confucian style of marriage manifested tensions among Confucian ideals, the law, and social practice.
Keywords: marriage, Confucian patriarchy, jealousy, wife, and concubine
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In the fifth month of 1474 during Söngjong's reign (r. 1469-94), Sin Chach'i had an affair with Tori, a female slave of Chach'i's household. Chach'i's wife, Madam Yi, became jealous of Tori and together with her mother committed violence against her. They cut her hair, beat her up, and tortured with a red-hot iron rod on her face, chest, and genital area. After inflicting severe pain on her body, they brutally left her alone in a mountain valley outside of the East Gate of Seoul (Hüng'inmun).1
The Office of Inspector-General (Sahönbu) initially examined Madam Yi's case, but it was soon transferred to the State Tribunal (Üigümbu) as it related to a moral crime that dealt with slave issue. After conducting a thorough investigation, the state banished Chach'i to Annüm and Madam Yi and her mother to Sannüm in Kyöngsang...