Abstract

This study aimed at examining maternity discourses expressed in works performed in National Play Competition which was held to make the Koreans loyal to the Japanese emperor in the preparation for all-out war at the end of the Japanese colonial rule. In addition, it also tried to open a new horizon of interpretation of maternity discourses through a variety of dramatic devices. Historically, the Joseon Dynasty institutionalized maternity in order to maintain the Confucian order of society. Such deep-rooted tradition enhanced maternity in the enlightenment period by going through some changes and accepting a new discourse. However, during the wartime period, when the Japanese colonial rule was close to an end, the government aggregated most maternity discourses into an imperialistic maternity discourse called 'mother devoted to saving the nation' or 'mother in a nation at war'. Nevertheless, in Joseon society under the Japanese colonial rule, individuals still had strong desire for maternity under the patriarchal system. Although the government forcefully tried to restore maternity toward the nation, individuals' desire for maternity was not restricted completely.