Gung Ye the One-Eyed Monk

Gung Ye (ruled 901–918) was the king of a short-lived state called Hu Goguryeo (901-918) on the Korean peninsula. He was a perfect leader with his charismatic personality and great leadership. He was beloved by all his generals and always shared the amount of treasures he gained from the battle. Gung Ye was literally the prince of Shila, but he was dumped by his parents while he was just a baby. Due to this tragic event, Gung Ye's hatred toward Shila grew strong and targeted Shila as his first victim. Eventually, Gung Ye conquered most of northern Shila and had to face Hu Baek Jae. However, as time went by, Gung Ye became mentally ill and started to become a tyrant and killed anyone, who he believed, was going to raise an army against him. He also called himself Mireuk, or Buddha who came to the world to guide and save suffering people from all hardship. Therefore, he believed that no human being could there damage him physically. Then later, his most trusted general, Wang Gun, along with four generals who disbelieved in Gung Ye’s actions, rebelled against Gung Ye. Gung Ye, totally taken by the surpirse attack, ran away from the castle dressed as a peasant. However, his mental illness got worse and he was later killed by group of peasants.

• Just like Mobon, Gung Ye did not kill any one to inherit the throne. However, just like Macbeth, Gung Ye was great as a general and as the King of Hu Goguryeo. It was just the mental illness that has taken over both of these characters during their time of reign that corrupted these two figures. Macbeth and Gung Ye started to kill people just by suspicion and their greed for more power.