Yonsei University 2020English essay test question

Compare the dragons ofthe West and the East. Then apply those concepts to the contemporary society.

Dragons are mythical creatures in both theWestern and the Eastern civilizations. In the West, dragons symbolized evilpower. In the most popular folk lore of the West, a dragon kidnaps a damsel,and a brave knight goes to defeat the dragon and to rescue the damsel indistress. This literary theme has been used in a popular coffee commercialrecently. The evil nature of the dragon stems from the New Testament of theBible. The devil is referred to as the dragon, or the old serpent. The Beastwho represents the force of the Anti-Christ is referred to as the dragon. Inthe Eastern tradition, the dragon represents the mythical source of politicalauthority. The emperors of China were called dragons. Their thrones were calledthe thrones of dragons, and their faces were referred to as the faces ofdragons. There was a popular Korean TV drama series called “The Tears of theDragon,” depicting the founding of the Yi Dynasty. In the East, dragons are notconsidered as evil creatures, but as divine sources of power for kings andemperors.
Dragons in both traditions are mythicalbeings. They do not actually exist. They exist only in the myths andimaginations of mankind. The idea of a dragon may have risen from the memory ofdinosaurs or their similar appearance to reptiles. Whatever the origin of theidea may have been, dragons are mythical imaginations which do not exist inreality.
In that sense, dragons may refer to thenon-existent source of either evil or political authority depending on who isimagining them. In the West, dragons represented the ultimate source of evilagainst which mankind must wrestle. As the ultimate source of evil, theirexistence is elusive. Though people imagine that dragons exist, they actuallydo not exist. Nonetheless people imagine them into existence in order to pegthe identity of evil in the world. The nature of evil is elusive. We do notknow where evil originates. In fact evil originates from the heart of man. Itis not what goes in from outside which corrupts a man, but what comes out fromwithin which corrupts him. But such elusive nature of evil is too abstract andvague. In order to clearly identify the source of evil, the Western manimagined the existence of the dragon as the omnipotent being against which manhas to battle. In the popular culture of the late 20th century andthe 21st century, however, there have been attempts to reverse theimage of the dragons from negative to positive. “Puff the Magic Dragon” sung byPeter, Paul, and Mary depicted the dragon not as an evil being, but as achildish, loyal, and mischievous being which could be befriended by an innocentboy. Also recent Hollywood fantasy films depicted dragons as friendly beingscoming to the aid of mankind. This attempt to reverse the image of dragons mayrepresent the contemporary revision of the age-old religion-based concept ofgood versus evil principles.
In the East, especially in China and Korea,dragons represented the source of political authority of the kings and emperorsover the people. In the age when democracy did not exist, the mandate to governpeople had to be found somewhere in order to provide legitimacy to a rulingking. In the absence of democratic elections, political legitimacy had to beinvented. The use of dragons as the source of political authority must havebeen an effective way of creating the moral and spiritual basis of politicalpower. As long as people look up to their kinds as dragons, they will not dareto defy the kings’ authority.
Both in the West and the East, the mythical dragonwas imagined in order to provide some actuality to the concepts which do notconcretely exist in the world. The ultimate evil does not exist as a concretebeing. It is a state of being which cannot be materialized. Nonetheless theWestern Christian civilization imagined the dragon into existence in order todesignate the foe against which mankind must wrestle. In the East, thenon-existent dragon was imagined in order to provide legitimacy to non-electedkings and emperors. In the contemporary times, we should be more realistic andresponsible about where true political legitimacy comes from and where moralevil comes from. Instead of blaming moral evil on the dragon, we must own up toour own moral failure. Also instead of attributing political legitimacy to thenon-existent dragon, our nations must draw their right to rule from the onlysource of legitimacy: the people.

카톡 아이디: gimmemogas