Arquivo

At the end of the eighteenth century, during the Chosun Dynasty, Mongryoung, son of the governor of Namwon falls desperately in love with Chunhyang. She is a beautiful, educated young woman, the daughter of a courtesan. In spite of the differences between them, they begin an affair and are more and more involved. Mongryoung eventually makes Chunhyang his mistress and keeps a house and servants exclusively for her, since they cannot marry. Fate breaks in on the happiness of the couple when the boy?s father is transferred to another city. Mongryoung decides to accompany him to complete his studies. Desperate at the prospects of separation, he implores his beloved to wait for him, and swears she will forever be his wife, even if she is not so officially. With the transfer, a new governor assumes the post left by Mongryoung?s father. Once he is in power, he requests all of the courtesans of the city to present themselves so that he may choose his favorite. Chunhyang refuses to go, on the grounds she is not a courtesan herself, but only the daughter of a courtesan. She recites poems about her love for Mongryoung and her promise that she would wait for him. Irked at her refusal, and even moreso, having heard much about her beauty, the governor indulges in abuse of power to get what he wants, and he has his guards arrest and torture Chunhyang. Mongryoung returns to the city now as a royal emissary, and will do all he can to revert the situation. All he wants is to free his beloved, to hold her once again in his arms, and to make the governor pay for the injustice he has committed.