Diversified Female Images in Folk Texts Reveals Resistance to the Restrictions on Women in Official

2021.12

Neo-Confucianism is one of the most influential intellectual and philosophical movements in East Asia. It features a very rigorous orientation towards female imagery; gradually, the East Asian culture with patriarchy as the core was formed. There were different female portraits in official texts versus folk texts in East Asia when Neo-Confucianism prevailed from Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 C.E.) to Qing dynasty (1644–1911 C.E.). In the Women Commands, “Three Obedience” and “Four Virtues” limit women to single traditional family ethics. While these virtues were widely promoted via official texts, whether the standards were well-practiced and accepted requires further analysis. This essay seeks to answer the question through comparative analysis of the female images in both official texts and folk stories.

This essay begins by examining the restrictions on women in official texts. It then argues that the limited image of women in official texts serves to oppress women from self-pursuit. For the comparative analysis, this essay identifies various female characters in folk stories and dissects the diverse female images into three aspects: emotional characteristic, social status and attitude toward love. Overall, the analysis of this essay revealed more diverse female images in folk texts compared to official texts. This essay further argues that this diversity of female images in folk stories represents a societal resistance to the Neo-Confucianism restrictions on females.

The singularity of female images in the official text is temporal and contextual. In other words, women have to maintain the same virtuous standard anytime, anywhere. According to the official text, the temporal singularity means that women should have limited purposes at any given time in life. For example, the History of Koryo (Koryŏsa) states that girls should be virtuous women from birth to adulthood until marriage. They should follow their father before the marriage. After marriage, the primary condition was that virtuous women could give birth and raise children well, respect the elders and care for the young, and manage the household. After the death of her husband, she still needs to comply with her son. Constrained by this single code, women spend all their lives attached to different men. The contextual singularity means that women have to maintain the proposed ˈvirtuousness under any given circumstances. She should be respectful to her mother-in-law, obedient to her husband, and never jealous of his concubine. A woman needs to educate the children and clean the house too. When her husband died, she could not remarry but remained chaste and took care of the children. Because women are expected to react the same way to different people, at different places, in different situations over time, it is evident that throughout a woman’s life, her identity and purpose are contingent on other family members, primarily male members.

Although strict constraints from the Women's Commandments in history maintain family harmony and social stability to a certain extent, the spotlight of the historian was on the heroic deed illustrating Confucian notions of womanly behaviour rather than on women as agents of their own will. Through depicting temporal and contextual women virtues, the official texts placed significant restrictions on women in the Neo-Confucian times. The following two paragraphs demonstrate how women’s self-pursuit was confined by analyzing two examples.

"The virtuous female figure" represses women to avoid their self-pursuit through official text. The first example is female epitaphs. There are exceptionally brilliant ladies demonstrating that intelligence and talent were one of the inner ethics of the female longing at that time. While excessive learning was deemed “dangerous,” a carefully supervised classical education prepared elite women for their essential role as educators of their offspring. At that time, women were responsible for raising offspring, so Neo-Confucianism believed that an upright wife should be able to read and write. Only this way could women better fulfill their duties of caring for husbands and raising children. Hence, literacy gave an elite woman unusual power in the inner room only for display. However, after depicting women's intelligence and talents, the epitaph also emphasized that women should not take the initiative to show off their intelligence and their talents (as Madame Song as an example). At the same time, being intelligent and pursue academic pursuits was also criticized, which did not meet the requirement of women at that time to focus on bearing children. Women who were too intelligent might shake men's mainstream status and make them feel a sense of crisis, which was also one of the reasons why men criticized women for pursuing academic pursuits. Epitaphs often focused on women's virtues, but females’ tolerance made them lose their voice, resulting in a significant underestimating women's intelligence. There was no large-scale systematic female education in the traditional feudal society. Female education was limited to the girls' schooling at home for elite women. Inscriptions and commandments for women are what girls learned from an early age. Therefore they tended to develop an inner character that allows them to find a meaningful place in the order and retained their sense of identity.

The second example is the Women's Commandments. As a means of political intervention on female morality and a textbook for women in feudal society, the commandments hurt women's self-consciousness and reduced women to a subordinate position. Through the recognition of female examples, the government constructed and reshaped the virtue in female personality to achieve the goal of female enlightenment. The appearance and development of female commandments can reasonably explain this process. Queen Sohye believed that female education was necessary and compiled Instructions for Women (Naehun) to promote the development of female education in 1475 in Korea. The Elementary Learning, the Biographies of Women (Lienii zhuan), the Precepts for Women (Niijie), and the Rules for Women (Niize) aims at criticizing and educating women and stifling their independent outlook on life. The female commandments reflecting the thought of “keeping the principle of nature destroying human desire” in Neo-Confucianism. Therefore, women could only do according to the female Canon, which was bound to the family and lost independent life freedom. The Women’s Commandments stipulate that women's activities were confined to the home.

Official texts depict the standard for being a good woman in a Neo-Confucianist society. However, how citizens responded to such standards is hard to derive from official texts alone. The following sections contrast female images in folk novels and official stories and revealed three significant differences. First, female characters have a more diverse emotional response to the so-called ethical behaviours that follow the Neo-Confucianist standards. Second, female characters in official texts often have middle to upper-class family social status—folk novels present females from lower social classes. Third, while females in official texts often obey arranged marriage, females in folk novels possess a more free attitude towards love. Literature examples and novel critical analyses are presented below to support the three findings.

The first difference is in the female emotional characteristics. Both official texts and folk novels present stories where a woman faced a familial difficulty and had to follow the Neo-Confucianistic virtual and exercise self-sacrification to keep the integrity of the family. The woman in the official story showed great willingness to perform the service and was often appraised for her morality and selflessness. For example, Biography of Women records that in the Ming Dynasty, a woman called Tan was trying to save her sick mother-in-law. Having read a story from the Biography of Women, Tan decided to cut her flesh for her mother-in-law to take as medication. Although her mother-in-law still passed away, her selfless dedication and good character were commended by the government. Tan’s story was subsequently collected in the Biography of Women as a good exemplar of women. Biography of Women recorded many similar stories of the same essence, including women cutting off their ears and fingers to prove their virtue. Across these stories, the female characters did not show any negative emotions towards the self-scarification. The story of Tan also showcased how these stories motivated women to perform self-harm with no complaints to satisfy the Neo-Confusionism virtue and to be remembered in history in an almost sadistic way. These extreme female commandments hindered the development of women's autonomous personalities, making it was difficult for them to express their natural and humane desires.

In contrast, females in the folk text presented more personal and innate emotions when reacting to the Neo-Confusionist virtues. Lady Rokujō in The Tale of Genji is a good example. Lady Rokujō was a lover of Genji. She deeply loved him and hoped to receive the same level of love. But Genji soon married another girl, Aoi. Lady Rokujō was jealous of Genji’s relationship with Aoi and was humiliated by Aoi's bodyguard. She became more angry and jealous so much that her spirit separated from her body and killed Aoi. Lady Rokujō left home with her daughter and eventually died from sickness at the age of 36.

Some may argue that the purpose of shaping a jealous woman in the novel is to punish the evil and non-virtuous women. Under this perspective, the shrew or jealous woman in folk novels are punished to serve as a warning to maintain the orthodox ideology of Neo-Confucianism. This essay proposes a different perspective and argues that the female image in this story is an effort to resist the Neo-Confucianism moral standards for women. First, Lady Rokujō obeyed women’s virtue and submitted to the role of a lover, but she did not feel willing or happy. Instead, she demonstrated sadness, anger, and jealousy – all were forbidden according to Women’s Commandments. In the stories in Biography of Women, women characters were depicted as willing to comply and feeling great happiness in the process. In folk novels, characters such as Lady Rokujō displayed negative human emotion when she had to comply with the Neo-Confucianism virtues. This alternative emotional response is already a rebel against the official standards for women. Second, Lady Rokujō made sure her daughter did not become a lover to the Genji family at the end. This is also contrary to the story of Tan from the Biography of Women. Tan passed down the behaviours promoted by Biography of Women and ended up in the book as another example. Clearly, Lady Rokujō’s jealousy and anger prevented her daughter from following her footsteps, which is a strong sign of women’s liberation.

Lastly, the symbolistic function of the jealous woman extends beyond this single story. In other stories, jealous spirit continued to kill other neglected or abandoned girls. Spirits were everlasting, entrenched in agony and actively seeking revenge. As it was irrational for women to be not virtuous, the writers used “the spirit” as a metaphor for the constant revolt. They used the diverse unethical personalities of women to express their resistance not only to the Neo-Confucian restrictions on women but also to the chaotic political and moral system.

The second difference is in the female characters’ social status. Most of the women who appear in the official literature are from the middle to upper classes, but the women in the folk literature are from the lower class. The Elementary Learning, the Biographies of Women (Lienii zhuan), the Precepts for Women (Niijie), and the Rules for Women (Niize) written by elite women were translated into Korean and studied by elite women too. The female commandment transmits the thought of male superiority and is a tool of the feudal ethics admonishing women. For example, in the epitaphs of Luo Wanshun and Zhao Lingjun, they were the offspring of famous families or the wives of officials. On the contrary, female images in folktales, religious fables, and other fiction are lower-class women, also called non-elites women. ​​ Although non-elite women in folktales reflect a certain degree of self-conscious resistance. With the strengthening of patriarchy, various forms of complementary marriage beneficial to men emerged, such as polygamy.

Due to the lack of education, social support institutions, and other objective factors, women who did not have social resources often became concubines or female slaves. Low social status makes them seen as sexual objects to the upper class, and they are more likely to be discriminated against and stereotyped. These lower-class figures are not often included in official texts that promote purity and virginity as female virtues. However, in folk novels, many lower-class female characters are depicted as attractive, brave, and strong. Take The Peach Blossom Fan in The Ming Dynasty as an example. Although li Xiangjun, a courtesan, was at the bottom of the society, her character image was the most positive: kind, honest, brave, not afraid of power, and loyal to the country and nation. She risked her life to refuse a marriage she did not like and eloped with her fiance; in order to protest against the officials, she risked her life to denounce them publically. When her country was invaded, her fiance chose to surrender, but she chose loyalty to her country. Li Xiangjun’s characteristics even overshowed many male figures in the story. In stories like this, lower-class female images are combined with rare virtues that are difficult even for male images to achieve. This design directly defies the notion that “Too much learning does not become a virtuous woman.” The Peach Blossom Fan is based on the true-life story of Li Xiangjun, making her story and virtues more tangible to the audience. Her devotion to her country was significantly appraised in the play and even presented as superior to her fiance’s. The artistic fusion between national heroism and lower-class female characters is an outlet for Neo-Confucianism and patriarchy’s societal dissatisfaction. This conflict between the social system of male superiority and women's pursuit of individual liberation stimulated more depiction of women actualizing personal achievements, seeking breakthroughs, and providing social values in folk literature.

The third difference is in the attitude toward love. Most women appearing in official documents obey the marriage arranged by their parents and value chastity extensively. But women in folk literature present more independent marital decisions. They fall in love with people outside of their parents’ arrangements; they dare to escape marriage and take the initiative to ask for a divorce. In official texts, females obey their parents’ arrangements. For example, in the epitaphs of the Song Dynasty prime minister Wang Dan's family Taiwei Wenzheng Prince Shinto Inscription, we know that two famous families exchanged brides to consolidate their position. Women did not have the right to choose their spouse: the daughter of Wang Dan married the son of Lu Yijian, and the eldest son of Wang Dan married the daughter of Lu Yijian. In addition, one story from Biography of Women is that in the Ming Dynasty a woman Hu cut off her ears to promise that she would not marry another man after her husband's death. Stories in official texts often present these stories to show how much a woman should value chastity and respect their parents’ marriage arrangements for them. On the other hand, folk stories resist the “virtuous women” expectation by yearning for freedom of love, which demonstrates the liberation of female self-consciousness to a certain extent. These stories focus on the impact of external moral standards on individuals and the smothering of “human desires” in arranged marriages. . For example, the story “The Shrew” was widely circulated by storytellers in the Song Dynasty. Ts 'Ui-Lien was treated with violence and neglect by her husband and mother-in-law. To fight for her freedom, she went against the secular female morality and proceeded to divorce her husband. . “Unencumbered and without a care, I too shall be free and easy.” She disdained flattery when the husband's family disrespected her at home and dared to trade a life of abundance for a life of self-respecting poverty.

This day I left their household,

And the rights and wrongs of the affair I will leave off. It is not that my teeth are itching to speak,

But tracing patterns and embroidering, spinning and weaving,

Cutting and trimming garments, in all these I am skilled. True it is, moreover, I can wash and starch, stitch and sew, Chop wood, carry water, and prepare choice dishes;

And if there are silkworms, I can keep them too.

Now I am young and in my prime,

My eyes are quick, my hand steady, my spirits bold; Should idlers come to peep at me,

I would give them a hearty, resounding slap.

Ts'ui-lien's image is a challenge to the patriarchal structure. When women wake up in their awareness, they have the interest of pursuing their claim status.

Besides pursuing a detachment from an arranged marriage, folk tales also present many pursuits for freedom of love through elopements. Under the system of polygamy, elopement is widely criticized. However, elopement is a very popular topic in folk romance novels. The liberated love was reflected in a series of romantic stories such as Butterfly Lovers. Zhu Yingtai disguised herself as a man and became classmates with Liang Shanbo. They like each other all the time, but Liang does not know that Zhu is a girl. When Liang learns zhu is a girl and becomes engaged to someone else, he becomes exemely upset and leads to his death. Zhu committed suicide next to Liang's grave because she liked him and did not want to marry anyone else. When they died, they became a pair of butterflies following each other.Two facts are worth highlighting in the story. First, the elopement in the Butterfly Lovers was a decision after failing to seek parental and society approval for freedom of love. Second, the story of Butterfly Lovers is internationally renowned and presented in various artistic formats such as painting, music, opera, musicals, etc. The story’s popularity shows great demand for expressing the deep-rooted feelings suppressed by Neo-Confucian principles and a certain degree of resistance against the patriarchal society.

This paper uncovered more diverse and distinctive female pictures in folk writings than official ones representing a societal resistance to the Neo-Confucianism restrictions on females. Official texts advocated women's ability to contribute and nurture and positioned women to handle housework and serve their husbands and children. Therefore, the female images in official texts are fixed and homogeneous. This limited women's self-development and reduced them to a subordinate position where they could not generate self-awareness. Folk texts challenge the Neo-Confusionism standards by presenting stories with females with diverse feelings, social status, and attitudes towards love.

If these efforts seem indirect or futile, The Legendary of Waking Marriage published at the end of Ming Dynasty would be an explicit and striking revolt to the women’s virtue. In the story, Xue is an extremely fierce woman who inflicts severe and fierce punishment on her unfaithful husband. This elevated conflict is direct retaliation against the long period of suppression. As Neo-Confucianism ruled the East-Asian society, we observed more expression of women’s desire for freedom, liberation and self-pursuit. The folk texts also pictured the citizens under Neo-Confusionsim a life with more gender equality and value for all. These representations, imaginations and romanticisms are crucial for enlightening women to resist the "virtuous women" image as painted in official texts.

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