Why Was Taking a Concubine Accepted When a Joseon Family Had No Son?
In The Scandal, the idea that a husband might take a concubine because his wife had not produced a son can feel brutally unfair.
To a modern viewer, the obvious question is:
Why should the wife be expected to accept another woman simply because there was no son?
The answer is not that Joseon people thought marriage did not matter.
It is that marriage was expected to serve something larger than the couple themselves:
the continuation of the family line.
Having a son was not only about wanting a child
In Joseon Korea, especially among elite families, a son could represent much more than personal happiness.
He could become the person who:
- continued the family name
- inherited responsibility for ancestral rites
- maintained the household line
- carried the family into the next generation
Joseon’s kinship system increasingly emphasized patrilineal succession, with the eldest legitimate son given priority in family and ritual inheritance. By the seventeenth century, this principle had become deeply embedded in social life. 우리역사넷
So when a household had no son, the problem was not understood simply as:
“This couple has no children.”
It could be seen as:
“Who will continue this lineage?”
This is where concubines entered the system
Joseon marriage was formally based on one legitimate wife.
But concubinage was permitted.
Elite men could take concubines even while their legitimate wives were still alive, and historical records explicitly note that continuing the family line was one reason men did so. 우리역사넷
That does not mean every childless husband immediately took a concubine.
And it certainly does not mean every wife accepted the arrangement willingly.
But socially, a man having a concubine was not automatically treated as a violation of marriage in the same way that a wife having another sexual partner would have been.
The system had already created a place for the concubine.
But a concubine’s son was not simply equal to the wife’s son
This part matters.
Joseon society made a strong distinction between children born to the legitimate wife and children born to concubines.
Children of concubines were classified as seo-eol and could face disadvantages in inheritance, social standing, and government careers. 우리역사넷
So the logic was not:
“Any son is exactly the same.”
The legitimate line still mattered enormously.
That is why Joseon families also used another solution:
adoption.
If there was no son, adoption could preserve the legitimate line
As Confucian lineage rules became stronger, elite households increasingly adopted a boy from the same patrilineal clan to continue the family line.
Historical sources show that in later Joseon society, adoption became a standard way to secure succession when a family lacked a legitimate male heir. 한국민족문화대백과사전
The Gyeongguk Daejeon also contained detailed rules about who could inherit ancestral rites when a legitimate heir was absent, including circumstances involving younger sons, concubines’ sons, and adopted heirs. 우리역사넷
So a family without a son did not have only one option.
It could involve:
a concubine, a concubine’s son, another male relative, or an adopted heir — depending on the period, status, and family situation.
Then why would a wife tolerate a concubine?
Because elite marriage in Joseon was not defined only by romance.
The wife had an official position within the household.
She was the legitimate spouse.
Her status did not automatically disappear because her husband took a concubine.
The concubine entered the household beneath her in rank.
That hierarchy could create enormous emotional conflict, but from the viewpoint of the family system, the arrangement allowed the household to pursue descendants without replacing the legitimate wife.
In other words:
the wife and the concubine were not treated as two equal wives competing for the same legal position.
They occupied different places in the household order.
And this changes how you watch The Scandal
When The Scandal treats the absence of a son as a serious family problem, it is not simply using an old-fashioned obsession with boys.
For a Joseon elite household, an heir was connected to:
ancestral rites, inheritance, lineage, family continuity, and social identity.
That is why taking a concubine could be justified as a family solution even when it was emotionally devastating for the wife.
And that is the uncomfortable contradiction at the center of the system:
the wife’s feelings were personal.
The family line was treated as collective.
When those two came into conflict, Joseon society often expected the individual to yield to the lineage.
Beyond the Subtitles
The subtitles told you what they said.
We explain why it mattered.
The Scandal Companion explores the cultural and historical logic behind the drama — from concubines and heirs to widowhood, chastity, family honor, and the rules that shaped relationships in Joseon Korea.
Explore the full The Scandal Companion → https://agewellkoreanstyle.com/free-scandal-qa/