Reading Notes W3: The Song of Ch'un-Hyang, Part B

The Song of Ch'un-Hyang Pages 74-89

• Ch'un-Hyang is distraught over parting with her husband. She wants to go to sleep immediately so that she may see him in her dreams, but she also fears that if she sees him in her dreams, it means he is unfaithful. She wants to see him either way. (76)
• The boy couldn't sleep since he wanted to see his love (76)
• New governor of Namwon, Pyon Hak-to, heard there's a pretty girl named Ch'un-Hyan near Namwon, and he wants to see her. (77)
• The governor had all of the Kisaeng called, but he didn't get to see Ch'un-Hyang (78-9)
• The governor demanded all of his guards find Ch'un-Hyang or else they would be demoted (80)
• Ch'un-Hyang was still thinking about her husband when the guards found her (80-1)
• She welcome them and served them wine. She asked about the old governor and hoped for a letter from the young master. She offered to give them money on their way out (81)
• The guards pleaded for her to come with them and they told her the whole yamen is in trouble and everyone is likely to lose their job (81)
• Ch'un-Hyang reluctantly went with them (81)
• The governor told her she must dress properly from now on and attend on him in the yamen (82)
• She says she can't do so since she's married. (82)
• He says it's better to belong to your governor than be tied to a child. She says a wife cannot belong to two husbands. It's principle to her. (82)
• The treasurer says it's proper for her to obey him (82)
• The governor threatens her disobedience by saying that refusal to obey a governor meets the same punishment as treason, which is a capital offense. (83)
• "If the rape of a married woman is not a crime, what is?" - Ch'un-Hyang (83)
• The governor had an executioner beat Ch'un-Hyang (83)
• People were weeping as they watched Ch'un-Hyang be beaten, crying out with each stroke, words corresponding to that number (84-86)
• She was covered in blood and tears. "Do not treat a girl like this. Better kill me quickly, and when I am dead my soul will become a cuckoo like the bird of Chu, crying in the empty hills on moonlit nights and breaking the dreams of young master Yi after he has gone to sleep" (86)
• The governor asked if she will persist in her disobedience now that she's been beaten. She says "please let me die" and asks the governor if he understands an oath that binds till death (86)
• Governor said she's beyond reason and demanded she be sent to prison (86)
• Ch'un-Hyang's mother comes and hugs her daughter, asking the jailers and executioners why they beat her. (87).
• Ch'un-laments in the prison house. She asks what her crime was and claimed she wasn't a murderer and hasn't done any other crime. She says she just wants to see her husband. She claims that when night comes she will paint a portrait of her lord with her blood, hanging it as a scroll beside her door. She is chaste and faithful. She mentions other great historical figures like Confucius who were jailed despite their greatness. She hopes her husband will come as an officer and save her life. (87-89).
• She asks the moon if it sees "us" and asks it to lend her its light because she wants to see where her husband is and relieve her sorrows. (89).