The objective of this dissertation is to reveal the inner structures of Shamanic
epic of prolongation of life and to distinguish the relationship and the
structural determining factor of the variant. Main subjects of Shamanic epic
of prolongation of life is that the hero provides the animal or the thing which
will substitute a life to psychopomp with escape from dead. The works which
belong in this are HwangchunHonsi, Honsigut, Jangjapuri, Gopuri,
Maenggambonpuri etc.
The contents which come to divide in two parts are composed of the part
that it reach to the fate which will die and it escapes from the dead. The
rear part has an almost same composition, the front part is on a large scale
divided with Hamkyungdo-Jejudo style and the South Chungcheongdo-Chollado
style. In the former the hero is poor or who is poor becomes the rich man,
but in the latter he appears with the rich man from first. In relation to the
cause of dead, there are the versions what the cause appears clearly and which
don`t. These are divided with the predetermined death and the accidental death.
After an internal review of 32 variants which have two parts all from in
total 34, it discovered two opposing conceptions of poor and wealthy, the
predetermined death and the accidental death. It showed a correlative
opposing conception. In case of the poor he has the predetermined death,
under the opposite case he has the accidental death. There was not the worst
case that the hero is poor and dies accidentally. There is only one that the
hero is rich and has the predetermined death, just in case the hero is a holy
man. It is guessed that this best case meditate two opposing conceptions by
a holy man.
It is presence of sin which connects two correlative opposing conception
and composes a mediation clause. This has the interrelation with the
conceptions of the predetermined death and the accidental death strictly, but
with the conceptions of poor and wealthy has a looser relationship. The
extreme opposition about two conceptions move the opposition about one
conception and the mediation clause which connects the wealthy to the
predetermined death. Also the sin which is a key of variant formation has
a relation to social responsibility of the rich man.