Hyo(filial piety), which has absolute respect for the father’s will at its core, is a mechanism that immortalizes fathers, and constitutes the ethical core of patriarchy that operating based on paternal authority. However, in the late Joseon dynasty, when the patriarchal system was at its peak, many novels criticized and denied the father’s tao, but also included the narrative of a child who is seen as a “filial son”. On the surface, it seems that the hyo that sustains the father’s immortality as well as patriarchy is participating in shaking paternal authority and threatening the status of the patriarchal system. In the process, the snob-type father and the great-hyo narrative stand out.
This article examines the crisis signs of patriarchy that are captured in the novel, centering on Jang Heon in Alliance Formed at the Wanwŏl Pavilion in which the snob-type father character is in full swing in, the narrative context of filial piety, focusing on the great-hyo narrative. The snob-type father, represented by Jang Heon, symbolizes the discord between the individual father and the patriarchal system caused by social and economic changes in the late Joseon dynasty. Jang Heon reveals the point of separation from the patriarchal system as his snob-type father’s serious survival strategy; however, the father is caricatured in mockery. In the process, King Shun’s preexisting great filial piety is reinforced. Great filial piety goes beyond general filial piety, which follows the father’s will and denies the father as filial piety. Great-hyo, which is redesigned to heal his father’s tao, can also declare the death of an individual father who revealed the patriarchal system’s weakness while pursuing survival. Although the immortal father dies due to the redesign of filial piety, the patriarchal system extends his life.