earticle

영어

The purpose of this paper is to compare the art of Vietnamese Cheo opera with the art of Korean mask dance and from this comparison to identify the similarities between mask dance and Cheo opera. As a student majoring in Korean Studies, while researching Korean culture, especially the art of mask dance, I realized that there are many similar points between the art of Korean mask dance and the art of Vietnamese Cheo opera. First, both of them belong to the genre of traditional drama in Vietnam and Korea. The art of Korean mask dance and the art of Vietnamese Cheo opera have the same method of performance. The stage of mask dance and Cheo opera is a flat yard. When the performance starts, the members of the audience sit around the stage. They enjoy the performance of the performers and also engage in an exchange of their emotions with the performers. This impromptu emotional exchange is a special characteristic of both mask dance and Cheo opera. Formed against a feudal background, both mask dance and Cheo opera have critical and humorous aspects. The objects of criticism are noblemen who are portrayed as being very rich but foolish and ignorant. To illustrate the similarity of these critical and humorous elements in the two dramatic forms, I have chosen two works for comparison, namely, Bongsan talchum (봉산탈춤) representing the mask dance of Korea and Quan am Thi Kinh representing Cheo opera of Vietnam.
In Bongsan talchum I have analyzed an extract entitled, “Malttugi wa yangban” (말뚝이와 양반) and in Quan am Thi Kinh, I have analyzed an extract, “Village headman and servant woman.” The critical and humorous nature of these two symbolic works is expressed by the same speech structure, namely, an assertive sentence structure to introduce the entrance on the stage of someone － an interrogative sentence to express opposition toward something － an assertive sentence to explain something － and an exclamatory sentence to conclude something. The conflict between the nobleman and the servant ends with the victory of the servant who is poor and in a low social position but sharp and intelligent. I was really surprised by the similarities in these two works. Nowadays, the relationship between Vietnam and Korea has improved. Therefore, such studies as this one are necessary to help people from these two countries understand each other's culture. However, the number of studies in this area is still negligible. I hope that this study, therefore, will make a useful contribution to the field of comparative studies of Korean and Vietnamese culture despite its shortcomings.