ABSTRACT
The memoirs of Lady Hyegyong 0735-1815), known in Korean as Hanjungnok (Records Written in Silence), or Hanjung mallok (Memoirs Written in Silence), are viewed as both a literary masterpiece and an invaluable historical document. Lady Hyegyong was the wife of Crown Prince Sado who, at age twenty-seven, was executed by his father, King yongjo. The Sado incident, even by the standards of ruthlessness and cruelty associated with royal houses, was quite a gruesome affair. One hot day in July 1762, King Yongjo ordered his son to enter a rice chest of about four feet square, which was then sealed. There, in the chest, Prince Sado died eight days later. This incident, the only publicly known filicide in the 500-year Choson dynasty, cast a terrible pall over those who were involved in and had lived with the tragic act. Most conspicuous among them were his father, King Y ongjo, whose long and brilliant reign was deeply compromised by this inhumane filicide; Sado's son, King Chongjo, whose reign surpassed even that of his grandfather in brilliance and accomplishment, and yet who. all his life, battled the shame
and grief his father's tragic death had left behind; and other ministers and tutors, some who would take their own lives or suffer political upheavals on account of their relationships to Prince Sado.!
