Friday, September 16, 2011

The Princess' Man: Chosun Dynasty's Version of Romeo & Juliet

Currently on my K-drama must watch list is The Princess’ Man starring Park Shi Hoo and Moon Chae Won as the main leads. I was a bit sceptical at first, having watched a great historical drama last year, Sungkyunkwan Scandal which turned out to be a great hit.

In comparison, The Princess’ Man is set in the Chosun Dynasty and focuses more on the power struggle taking place between the King and his brother. Similar themes between the two dramas are the inequality of women compared to men, as they are thought of as the weaker sex. Girls are trained to be good wives, boys are groomed to be scholars in order to be great men.

What attracts me towards The Princess’ Man is the Romeo and Juliet story of Kim Seungyu (Park Shi Hoo) and Lee Seryeong (Moon Chae Won). Seryeong is the daughter of Prince Suyang, the King’s brother, while Seungyu is the youngest son of Kim Jongseo, the Third State Councillor, a trusted advisor to the King.

Prince Suyang proposes the marriage between his eldest daughter and Kim Jongseo’s youngest son, wanting to strengthen ties among the two families as well as taming his daughter. Known to sneak to the stables to ride horses, Seryeong is often the subject of worry for her parents. Meanwhile, the King is sick and wants to entrust his future son-in-law the task of taking care of his son who is to inherit the throne. Thus, he proposes that his daughter marry his advisor Kim Jongseo’s son. (What a mess!)

Undecided, Kim Jongseo decides not to accept the offers of both parties and leaves the decision to the royal court to decide. Seryeong visits the princess and hears that a new tutor would be coming, none other than Seungyu.

Having sent her previous tutors scurrying away, the princess is unperturbed by the idea of having a new tutor while Seryeong wants to meet the man her father had proposed to marry her off to. They switch places and Seryeong sits in for Seungyu’s class. Alas, he happens to see her face but Seryeong did not think of the circumstances that would bring to her for impersonating the princess.

On a day that Seryeong snuck out of the house to horse-ride, she met Seungyu who thought she was the princess. He taught her the basics of horse-riding since she was extremely keen to learn, and it was the start of their process of falling in love for each other.

The King decided on having Kim Seungyu as his son-in-law and Prince Suyang gets enraged at the idea. Meanwhile the princess reveals her identity to Seungyu, shocking him as he discovered that the girl he fell in love with isn’t the princess whom he thought he was about to marry. Prince Suyang finds fault with Seungyu, causing him to be imprisoned while marrying the princess to another candidate, Seungyu’s best friend, Jong.

The King soon passes away after falling ill, and Prince Suyang seeks to remove Kim Jongseo and his men from the royal court. He orders them to be killed, including Seungyu. Seryeong pleads to her father for Seungyu’s life, saying that if he dies, she dies too. Seungyu escapes from captivity and happens to watch Prince Suyang’s hunchmen kill his father in front of his very own eyes.

Biding his time and seeking revenge, Seungyu walks into a crowd of people welcoming Prince Suyang at his house. He grabs a sword, waiting to rush forward and stab the Prince, until he glimpses a frail-looking Seryeong bowing to her father, welcoming him home.

Will their love stand the test of the fact that their families are enemies? Find out by watching The Princess’ Man on KBS World on ASTRO Channel 391 every Monday and Tuesday at 9pm!

The author wants to share a great song from the OST of the drama, Again, Today I Love You, sung by Baek Ji Young. Do check it out below!


Credits go to kpopinsanity for the video clip.
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