“Marry My Husband” – When Revenge Disguises Itself as Justice
Although many viewers cheer for Ji-won, I find it difficult to call her actions morally right. Marry My Husband is not merely a drama about redemption — it is, above all, a study of how easily a victim can become a perpetrator once she believes she has the right to control fate because she “knows the future.”From Kant’s perspective, a person must never be treated merely as a means to an end, no matter how just that end may seem. Ji-won turns others into pawns in her game, justifying manipulation as “correcting destiny.” In doing so, she becomes fundamentally no different from those who once manipulated her. Kant would say that morality without respect for others’ autonomy is nothing but a façade of virtue.
Aristotle, too, reminded us that virtue lies in moderation — in balance between emotion and reason. Ji-won, driven by the desire for revenge, loses that balance. Her cunning is not wisdom; it is proof that intelligence without moral direction leads to ruin.
She is not the heroine of a tragedy but its architect. By steering the lives of others, she leads them to commit crimes — even if she herself never stains her hands with blood. Ethics is not only about physical acts but also about intention and the conscious creation of circumstances that allow evil to occur. The fact that she did not kill does not absolve her of moral responsibility for causing death.
Marry My Husband reveals how easily justice can be mistaken for vengeance. Ji-won does not surpass her oppressors because she is “better” — but because she uses their methods more effectively. Nietzsche warned that “he who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.” That is precisely what happens to her.
For me, this is not a story about female empowerment, but about the danger of moral arrogance. Ji-won becomes exactly what she fought against — someone who believes she has the right to control others’ fates in the name of a “greater good.”
Revenge may look like justice — but it has nothing in common with it.
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