Synopsis of Jewel In The Palace

[wikitvs.com] The story is set in Korea during the reigns of King Seongjong (1457–1494), King Yeonsan-gun (1494–1506) and King Jungjong (1506–1544).

King Seongjong has ordered the execution by poisoning of the deposed Queen Jeheon, the mother of the young crown prince Yeonsan-gun. After carrying out the execution one of the imperial guards, Seo Cheon-soo, is haunted by the murder. On his way home, he suffers an accident and is rescued by a mysterious hermit with a cryptic message—that his life will revolve around three women. One whom he is forced to kill, another whose life he saves but who will still die because of him, and a third who will kill him but will go on to save many lives. It doesn’t become clear until later in the story that the three women are Queen Jeheon (the poisoned queen), Park Myeong-i (Seo’s wife and the mother of Jang-geum) and Jang-geum (the main character and Seo’s daughter). Haunted by the cruelty of the former queen’s execution and his prophesied fate at the hands of the third woman, he abandons his post and lives isolated from most people, especially women, refusing to take a wife.

After many years, the former king has been deposed and the crown prince Yeonsan-gun has ascended to the throne. Park Myeong-i is a palace girl (or gungnyeo) and apprentice cook of the royal kitchen. She witnesses a fellow apprentice, a girl from the powerful Choi family named Choi Seong-geum, slip poison into the queen’s food. Unaware that the senior kitchen officers are part of a conspiracy against the queen, Myeong-i informs the head kitchen officer (choigo sanggung⁾. The officers, fearful that Myeong-i might reveal their conspiracy, attempt to murder her. Myeong-i’s best friend, Han Baek-young, witnesses the crime and manages to secretly save her. She leaves the unconscious Myeong-i a letter explaining what had happened. As Seo wanders through the forest in his self-imposed hermitage, he stumbles upon the half-conscious Myeong-i. He rescues her and the two fall in love and marry. They end up living peacefully in a remote village as lower caste commoners and raise a clever daughter named Seo Jang-geum.

In 1504, Yeonsan-gun, orders an investigation into his mother’s (Queen Jeheon’s) murder. Jang-geum is warned by her parents to never reveal their true identities to anyone or they will all die. One day Jang-geum and her father go to a village fair. In a wrestling match she blurts out to the jeering crowd that her father is not a lower caste commoner but a former guard of the royal palace. Word spread and the king’s detectives capture Seo Cheon-soo and execute him. Mother and daughter flee but are captured by the guards. As they are taken away, the group is ambushed by mercenaries hired by the Choi family patriarch, who is determined to kill Myeong-i and her daughter. Myeong-i is injured and before she dies she tells Jang-geum her last wish—that she become the choigo sanggung of the royal kitchen and record the crime in a journal that is passed down through every generation of choigo sanggung.

Through a series of lucky coincidences Jang-geum manages to enter the palace. She is unknowingly apprenticed to Lady Han Baek-young, her mother’s best friend. Jang-geum endures many ordeals and is bullied because she is more skilled and works harder than the other girls. During her time as a palace girl, Jang-geum befriends a young officer named Min Jung-ho, who falls in love with her. Her rival is Choi Geum-young, another palace girl and Lady Choi Seong-geum’s niece. While not a cruel person, Geum-young’s conscience is slowly eroded by Lady Choi’s ruthless behavior. Min Jung-ho urges Geum-young to maintain her integrity and stand up to her evil relatives, but an angry Geum-young accuses Jung-ho of not loving her and being by her side. Many years pass and Lady Choi schemes to win the position of choigo sanggung. The Choi women have successively occupied the choigo sanggung position for five generations, allowing the family to become exclusive suppliers of goods and produce to the royal kitchen. This has made the Choi family immensely wealthy and powerful. Eventually a cooking competition is declared and Lady Choi and Lady Han vie to become choigo sanggung. When Lady Han wins, Lady Choi’s brother and the chief state councillor plot to frame Lady Han and Jang-geum as traitorous rebels. In an effort to save Jang-geum Lady Han declares that she alone is guilty of treason. Nonetheless both are sent to Jeju Island to work as government slaves. On the way there Lady Han dies from her injuries. Lady Choi replaces her as the choigo sanggung while Jang-geum vows to take revenge.

Min Jung-ho follows Jang-geum to Jeju Island. He offers to help Jang-geum escape but she refuses since doing so would mean never returning to the palace to clear Lady Han’s name, as well as never obtaining justice for her mother’s death. Min Jung-ho declares he will wait for her at the palace, confident that Jang-geum will find a way to re-enter the court.

On Jeju Island Jang-geum meets a woman named Jang-deok, whom she first mistakes for a fellow slave. She soon discovers that Jang-deok is a famous female doctor. Jang-deok’s blunt and forthright nature initially offends her, but she learns in time that the female doctor is dedicated and caring. As the days go by Jang-geum realizes that the only way back to the palace is to become a female doctor. She begs Jang-deok to teach her medicine. Jang-geum’s friend, Jeong Woon-baek, an eccentric royal physician, disapproves of her decision to pursue medicine in order to take revenge on the Choi family. In spite of this Jang-geum perseveres and earns herself a spot as a doctor-in-training at the palace.

Upon returning to the palace Jang-geum encounters Choi Geum-young, who has been promoted to choigo sanggung. The ruthlessly ambitious Lady Choi has ousted the former female head officer of the palace (jejo sanggung)^[3] and now occupies that position herself. Min Jung-ho is a lieutenant and a member of the King’s cabinet. Jang-geum’s childhood best friend, Yeon-sang, also a palace girl, had caught the king’s eye and is now his concubine and the 8th Queen. As usual Jang-geum endures many trials at the palace, from being forced to wash the feet of Geum-young to a backstabbing female doctor named Park Yeol-i. In spite of this Jang-geum manages to accomplish great things, such as curing an epidemic and saving the king’s life when the king’s own physicians had failed.

With Jang-geum’s status rising several events ensue that lead to an investigation of the Choi family, resulting in the prosecution of Lady Choi, her brother and several high-ranking officials, including the chief state councillor. Everyone scrambles to escape and only Lady Choi manages to evade the guards. Jang-geum finds her and asks if she is willing to sacrifice her niece, Geum-young, to the authorities while she herself escapes. Lady Choi, who had abandoned her ethics and conscience for the sake of the Choi family, is unable to respond. Torn between self-preservation and guilt Lady Choi wanders the countryside hallucinating. She ends up falling off a cliff and dies. Choi Geum-young loses her position as choigo sanggung and is exiled along with the other officials.

Through her dedication, perseverance and skill Jang-geum saves the royal family from one disaster after another. After giving birth to a stillborn child Queen Munjeong remained ill. Jang-geum correctly identifies a second stillborn fetus in the queen’s womb and saves the queen’s life. She convinces the queen mother to undergo medical treatment at the risk of being beheaded. She also cures the prince, Queen Munjeong’s only son, of smallpox, which earns the permanent gratitude of the queen.

For her achievements King Jungjong makes Jang-geum a 9th rank official^[4] and appoints her to be his personal physician, the first woman in history to hold such a position. The court is in uproar and the state councillors unanimously oppose the appointment on the grounds that it violates the country’s constitution. When the queen dowager humiliates herself to express her disapproval the king revokes his decision. She urges the king to take Jang-geum as one of his queen consorts. Although the king is in love with Jang-geum he refrains from making her a consort against her will. A second bout with serious complications from Behçet’s disease is successfully cured by Jang-geum and the king finally decrees her his personal physician. She is granted the honorific “Dae” (meaning “The Great”), as well as the position of a 3rd rank official.

Jang-geum fears that accepting this position will endanger her friends and family. However, with Min Jung-ho’s support she accepts. The ministers and scholars of the court bitterly accept the decree, but demand that the king punish Min Jung-ho for supporting Jang-geum’s appointment. Seeing an opportunity to separate the lovers the king agrees and Jung-ho is sentenced to exile.

Eventually, the king’s old illness returns. Jang-geum attempts to heal him using all the medical technologies known at the time. The other doctors offer advice but nothing works, the king is dying. Jang-geum resorts to her last option—an experimental technique using newly ‘discovered’ anesthesia and surgery. However, the king’s body is considered sacred and King Jungjong refuses. Knowing Jang-geum’s life will be in danger after his death the repentant king sends her to escape with Min Jung-ho and they live as fugitives. Years later Jang-geum is spotted by her adoptive father who alerts Jang-geum’s friends in the palace. By this time King Jungjong had passed away along with Crown Prince Injong, who ruled for less than a year. The second in line to succeed the throne is child king Myeongjong, son of Queen Munjeong, who is now queen regnant and wields enormous power. She hears that Jang-geum is still in the country and invites her and Jung-ho to return to the palace and be reinstated to their previous positions. Jang-geum and Jung-ho joyfully return, but they decide for the sake of their family to live away from the palace.

As they return to their normal lives, Jang-geum came across a pregnant woman, and successfully used her surgical skills to deliver the woman’s baby, thus becoming the first physician in Korea to do a surgical procedure. While Jang-geum celebrates her success, Jung-ho came to lament on the repressive social climate of Korea, and its inability to accommodate a woman with ambitions