KJCKorea
Journal Central

Many plays published during the time between 1910s to 1920s show characters that are driven to insanity or suicide in the end. In these works, such dramatic consequences as insanity or suicide function as a major development within its plot. Usually one or the other appears in the play, but there are also works where both appear, as in <Hwang-hon (Dusk)>. Insanity and suicide are certainly familiar subjects in the field of drama. Insanity can be divided into roughly two categories - psychosis and neurosis. Accordingly, the main characters of the plays analyzed in this paper show symptoms of either psychosis (as in <Gyu-han (The Sorrow of a Wife)>) or neurosis (as in <Hwang-hon (Dusk)>). The psychotic or neurotic symptoms that the main characters of the plays display represent the pain and suffering of an average person living in those times when everything was going through rapid and drastic changes. The plays where its characters commit suicide show in a more direct and radical way, the inner-conflicts of that era. <Gi-juk-bul-ttae (When the Steam Whistle Blows)> and <Gyuh-wool-bul-ggot (Winter Flame)> are representative works that fall under this category. Both works draw our attention in that they show resistance toward colonial rule. <Yun-gwa-jye (Love and Sin)>, <Hwang-hon (Dusk)> and <Gi-juk-bul-ttae (When the Steam Whistle Blows)> have been analyzed in this paper as important works that are in themselves prototypes of 'dae-joong-guk(popular play)', 'shin-guk(modern play)', and 'proletarian play'. These works use insanity and suicide, in order to maximize the effect of the play. The main flaws of these plays seem to be that the actions of the main characters are sometimes unnatural, and the intent of the playwright often unclear. However, such limitations and shortcomings should be understood as an inevitable stage that Korean Modern Play had to go through, in the process of its development.

insanity, suicide, psychosis, neurosis, resistance toward colonial rule