The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng

A review.

 Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong

Recently, I read the Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng which was a heart-wrenching and chilling tale of court politics in the Joseon Dynasty. The author, Lady Hyegyŏng, narrates her story of becoming the Crown Princess by marrying Prince Sado whose tragic downfall she narrates. As a Korean-American, I was deeply fascinated with her memoirs, which is a firsthand account of Joseon court politics. Even more so as a Korean girl myself, her memoirs are a perspective from a Korean woman surviving and navigating in a patriarchal society. Additionally, her memoirs are also one of the few female-written accounts of life in the pre-1900 East Asian societies, as the majority of these accounts are written predominantly by men. When reading it, it’s very clear that Lady Hyegyŏng is highly educated and intelligent, as shown through her prose and poetic descriptions. Her life was extensive and exciting; however it’s also one filled with struggle and despair. 

The Beginning (Childhood)

Lady Hyegyŏng (her full and real name is unknown as female names are usually not written down) was part of the Pungsan Hong clan and she's the daughter of Hong Bong Han (Hong is the last name; I will be writing Korean names beginning with their last name as per Korean tradition). In her first memoir, she recounts her early childhood as being very loved by her parents and her grandfather. She was from a family of scholars as well as being descended from an earlier princess of the Joseon dynasty. As I was reading, I was very astounded by the filial piety that she demonstrated throughout her four memoirs. Both she and her family displayed an amazing amount of focus on filial piety. They were incredibly dedicated to each other and her father was completely devoted to the king and the kingdom. I think that’s pretty amazing and it’s also very inspiring.

Throughout the memoir, Lady Hyegyŏng repeats that the downfall of her family began when she was selected as the future Crown Princess to Prince Sado when she was around nine years old. This selection surprised both her parents as they never thought that a daughter from a lowly scholar family could be picked. Furthermore, Lady Hyegyŏng emphasized the pain that both her and her parents felt when they had burst into tears, realizing that this meant that she would be separated from her parents. Throughout the princess selection and when Lady Hyegyŏng moved into the palace, it was filled with dread and despair as well as a lot of tears. However, from her account, it’s very obvious that Lady Hyegyŏng was extremely mature as a young child, which had captured the attention of King Yeongjo, the father of Prince Sado, who had also taken a liking to Hong Bong Han, Lady Hyegyŏng’s father. I believe that King Yeongjo, who found Hong Bong Han very remarkable in his duties, was a bit more biased towards picking Lady Hyegyŏng as Lady Hyegyŏng remarks that although the Crown Princess selection went on, it was obvious that Lady Hyegyŏng was picked because of King Yeongjo’s warm behavior towards her. I’m not going to go into every single detail but her entrance into the palace marked the trajectory of her life.

Second and Third Memoirs

The second and third memoir is primarily in defense of her family which includes her father, brothers, and uncles who were wrongfully accused of crimes they did not commit. When Lady Hyegyŏng became the Crown Princess, she bore Prince Sado two sons and two daughters (the first son died early on but the second, Yi San or also known as Jeongjo the Great, would later become King) which brought her a lot of prominence. Furthermore, King Yeongjo favored Hong Bong Han so much that it led to her father assuming and attaining many positions of power. During this time, the Hong family prospered greatly. Lady Hyegyŏng states that her father felt that he had a duty to the king and the country which was why he devoted himself endlessly to the King and Prince Sado. Her father’s relationship with Prince Sado was particularly important as they developed a close relationship which would help when Prince Sado would begin to suffer.

*Note, I will be going into more detail but Prince Sado is infamously known in Korean history for going somewhat insane. He suffered from many different symptoms which I will further explore more.

However, as the Hong family continued to prosper, they would soon become entangled in messy court politics by those who wished to eliminate Lady Hyegyŏng’s family. Her uncle and some of her brothers were framed and ultimately executed for crimes they did not commit. Throughout the second and third memoir, I was very much appalled by how much her family had suffered and the way different families and people continuously targeted her family. It was more sad because Lady Hyegyŏng could do almost nothing to prevent this. Yes, she was the Crown Princess and the mother of the Grand Heir (Yi San who was designated as the Grand Heir) however she was still a woman. All she could do was urge and plead with King Yeonjo or to her allies. Although there was a brief period of happiness when she entered the palace, her entire life was spent in despair and agony as court politics continued to ensnare her family even deeper. Throughout her entire memoir, Lady Hyegyŏng mentions several times of her desire to die. She had attempted multiple suicide attempts throughout her life but they all failed. I think that’s very depressing and horribly sad, especially considering that Lady Hyegyŏng blames herself for her family’s misfortunes. She speaks of herself as the unfilial daughter who had brought her family into ruin yet she didn’t even choose to be the Crown Princess. I think her reflection of herself and her life shows how much a woman is made to endure and suffer for things that weren’t even her fault. Something I also found interesting is that Lady Hyegyŏng was told by King Yeongjo that if Prince Sado looked at other women, she shouldn’t make a fuss about it because that’s natural. However, when King Yeongjo found out that Prince Sado had a son by a secondary consort, he was enraged and even more so after finding out that Lady Hyegyŏng hid the secondary consort from his sight. This is why he lectured her about how odd it is that she wasn't displaying any jealousy like a normal woman.

* Note In Korean history, the kings and princes were allowed to have several “wives”. The Crown Prince, Sado in this case, had an official wife which would be Lady Hyegyŏng, who was Crown Princess, but he is able to have secondary, third, fourth, fifth, and more consorts which are basically like concubines. Prince Sado himself is the son of Lady Sonhui, a secondary consort.

To this, Lady Hyegyŏng wrote that she was very appalled and dismayed as jealousy is looked down upon in Confucian values which is very much upheld in the Hong family. I think that was interesting because it just showed the double standards of how a woman should feel. Many people find the second and third memoirs very confusing because there are a lot of people that she mentioned and these two memoirs are mostly about court politics that targeted her family which can be confusing to non-Korean people (the usage of Korean names and East Asian court politics is different from western historical politics). However, it's very compelling and tragic because these two memoirs are primarily about the downfall of her family which Lady Hyegyŏng narrates tragically and poetically. Through her words, she laments the fate of her family and suffering, blaming it on her for being an “unfilial daughter”. For me, it just showed how much suffering and pain Lady Hyegyŏng endured as she had to watch her brothers die and be defamed as well as her father who was accused several times of different crimes. Lady Hyegyŏng, after the deaths of the Queen (the first wife of King Yeongjo), The Queen Dowager, and Lady Sonhui (Prince Sado’s mother), who all supported and welcomed Lady Hyegyŏng when she entered the palace as a nine year old,  was utterly alone in the palace. These deaths as well as watching the downfall of her family caused Lady Hyegyŏng to be incredibly suicidal and depressive throughout her life.

Prince Sado

Lady Hyegyŏng’s memoirs are very well known in Korea because of her harrowing account of Prince Sado and his tragic ruin. Prince Sado was the son of King Yeongjo and Lady Sonhui. Lady Hyegyŏng described Prince Sado as a remarkable man, very filial to his parents, and as an intelligent and benevolent person. However, as a child he was not given a lot of attention by King Yeongjo which led to a strained relationship between the two. Even as he grew up, it was very difficult for Prince Sado to be in the presence of his father who would chastise and embarrass him for any mistake he did, little or big. In her memoir, she describes how Prince Sado was absolutely petrified by his father when his father was with him during lessons. During these lessons, Prince Sado was often slow or stuttered when he answered because of his nervousness and his slow decision-making to make sure he would pick the right answer in front of his father. But because of this, King Yeongjo felt disappointed in Prince Sado as he felt that he didn’t match his expectations of being the Crown Prince. From the start, it’s really obvious that one of the major causes for Prince Sado’s mental illness was because of the harsh treatment from his father. Lady Hyegyŏng laments how despite how brilliant Prince Sado was, King Yeongjo was never there to see it. She describes how horrible it was when King Yeongjo would shower Princess Hwapyong, one of his daughters, with so much attention and love whereas Prince Sado received none. It was strange and it wasn’t just Lady Hyegyŏng that noticed it. However, despite Princess Hwapyong being showered with attention, Prince Sado showed no envy or hate towards his sister as he was very close to Princess Hwapyong. Prince Sado was also very close to his mother, the previous Queen, the Queen Dowager, and his sisters, so when the Queen and Queen Dowager died, his mental health turned much much worse. I also believe that King Yeongjo himself was somewhat strange as well. He had many superstitions that Lady Hyegyŏng described. One of them was that he always had to change into new clothes when he exited a building or he needed to clean his ears every time he heard something bad, however that can only be done after he hears something from somebody else. These were very strange superstitions. I just thought that was interesting and it seemed to be somewhat connected to Prince Sado. 

Now, I will be describing the most chilling part of her memoir. Even now, I still remember a line that Lady Hyegyŏng wrote, “In this month, Prince Sado began to kill.” Prince Sado began to suffer from strange symptoms. During one instance, he read a book which was a Taoist text, and hallucinated a thunder god which caused a permanent fear in thunder and lightning. I think the tense relationship and constant humiliation that he had to endure from King Yeongjo led to a rapid decline in his mental health. He often had fun playing military games but he was chastised terribly by King Yeongjo who made it a point to embarrass him in front of a large crowd of people. Even for things that Prince Sado didn’t commit, King Yeongjo punished him. After the deaths of the Queen and Queen Dowager, his mental health completely deteriorated. Prince Sado began to become more violent as he frequently beat the eunuchs. In one instance, he beheaded one eunuch and held the head in front of several ladies-in-waiting and Hyegyŏng who were petrified.

Prince Sado was rarely physically violent towards Lady Hyegyŏng, but there was one instance where he threw a Go board at her which caused her to have several bruises. However, he continued to kill more people and he eventually began to assault and rape the palace maids. It’s honestly really horrifying. Lady Hyegyŏng began to fear for her life as well as being absolutely terrified of her husband. Prince Sado has a clothing phobia as well. It would take a long time for him to get dressed because he would refuse to wear certain clothes until it felt right. Lady Hyegyŏng recounts that she had to have at least twenty to thirty sets of clothes but half of them were burned and many were tossed away. If she didn’t have enough sets of clothes, people were physically harmed or murdered by Prince Sado which is why she was supplied with cotton and other fabrics by her father as she was terrified of the consequences. Prince Sado had a secondary consort, Bing-ae, who was a lady-in-waiting for his grandmother (so that was considered to have violated the incest taboo which led to King Yeongjo berating Prince Sado furiously) and Prince Sado would later beat Bing-ae to death and leave her dying on the floor from her injuries. 

In this passage, I will begin talking about the infamously horrific way Prince Sado died. Prince Sado was enraged at one official and he had threatened to kill the official’s son. To do this, he followed a water passage to the upper palace; however, he didn't find the official or his son. But this action soon spread rumors that Prince Sado was trying to kill King Yeongjo. By this time, Prince Sado had truly gotten worse. He had murdered several people and raped and assaulted innocent women and he was mentally insane. He threatened to kill his sister if she did not comply with his demands such as letting him go outside the palace or letting him see specific areas that he was prevented from seeing.

Lady Sonhui, his mother, felt that she could do nothing more for him and she urged King Yeongjo to do something about Prince Sado before he harmed more people. In response, King Yeongjo ordered Prince Sado to climb inside of a rice chest on a hot summer day. He suffered for about seven to eight days before they declared him dead from starvation and dehydration. Lady Hyegyŏng recounts the day when Prince Sado called her in. At that moment, she believed she was going to die but Prince Sado ordered her to give him a cap to wear as he needed to meet his father. When Lady Hyegyŏng and her son, Yi San, found out what was going to happen with Prince Sado, she recounts her son pleading with King Yeongjo to let his father live. At this time, Yi San was around ten years old and he was unaware of the tragedies and crimes that Prince Sado had caused. Lady Hyegyŏng recalled her listening from the courtyard as she heard her husband begging for his life, pleading to his father who ordered him to climb inside the rice chest. During one of the days, lightning and thunder struck which made Lady Hyegyŏng painfully remember Prince Sado’s excessive fear of thunder. Through the seven to eight days, Prince Sado continued to plead for his life as people would hear his cries from the rice chest. Eventually, his voice would stop. Although Prince Sado was a rapist and a murderer, his death was truly horrendous. This was the only method in which King Yeongjo could execute Prince Sado without sentencing Lady Hyegyŏng and Yi San to death. Usually, if the prince had to die, his wife and his children were similarly sentenced to death which was unfair. When Lady Hyegyŏng found out that Prince Sado was basically sentenced to death, she tried to kill herself though she was stopped. Even after his death, Lady Hyegyong was not allowed to die because if she did, then Yi San’s legitimacy as the Grand Heir (now the Crown Prince) would be questioned. Yi San was already treading on a rope because he was now the son of a criminal which is something that his opponents would use against him. To counter this, King Yeongjo made Yi San the adoptive son of Crown Prince Hyojang (Prince Sado’s elder half-brother who had passed away) and his wife, Princess Consort Hyosun, to ensure his legitimacy. However, this decision caused a lot of pain and anguish for Lady Hyegyŏng who was now legally not his mother. Prince Sado’s death was forbidden to speak of and because of this, it caused a lot of rumors and misinterpretation. This is why Lady Hyegyŏng recounts this in her memoir despite how painful it is for her to remember it. His death would cause more issues for her family, as they would be accused of crimes related to Prince Sado’s death. 

Ending

Lady Hyegyŏng lived a remarkable and horrifying life. She survived while her family underwent ruin and she had to watch her husband, Prince Sado, turn more and more insane. Despite all her tribulations and trials, Lady Hyegyŏng witnessed her son, Yi San, become king and she would then watch her grandson, become the next king. Although Lady Hyegyŏng seems to blame herself for the ruin of her family, it’s very clear that it’s not her fault at all. Her story is extremely harrowing but it’s an amazing firsthand account of Joseon politics which is rarely recorded, especially from the perspective of a woman who was the Crown Princess. After her death, she was posthumously awarded the title, Queen. Her memoirs are a staple in Korean literature which I find very interesting because Korean society then and now remains heavily patriarchal. Her memoirs are a sign that Korean women are able to present and embed themselves in Korean society and culture regardless of how much society wants to limit women' s rights. I find her memoirs to be absolutely fascinating and tragic and it inspired me to write a review about it and I hope more people will read her memoirs. 

SOURCES:

1. Lady Hyegyong's Palaquin 

2. A Go board

3. Prince Sado's Rice Chest