〈秋胡戲妻〉描寫秋胡離家從軍，多年後返家與妻子相遇不識，調戲其妻於桑園的故事。此一故事在不同時代中分別以詩、小說、戲劇等不同文體表現輾轉演化，最後發展為一種典型性的故事情節。本文期以〈秋胡戲妻〉雜劇為討論核心，從結構上探討不同時代作品的精神意涵。大抵而言，〈秋胡戲妻〉雜劇呈現二元對立的結構方式，本文分別從以下三點切入:1、透過各個不同時代文學作品的時間描寫，分析作者賦予劇中人物的性格特徵。2、透過場景安排，揭示劇中人物的性格屬性，並特別強調模糊地帶所引起的禁忌行為。3、透過一而再、再而三的試煉，鞏固劇中人物性格。最後分析因觀眾喜愛大團圓結局的心態，所形成的由悲劇轉為喜劇的轉變過程，同時也因為此一轉變，使此劇的二元對立結構呈現鬆散的現象，生與死、移節與貞守的對立關係趨緩，戲劇衝突減弱，代之以妥協圓滿的中和情境。整個戲劇由嚴肅的贊美貞節的意旨，轉而為調笑娛樂的休閒色彩，變化可謂大矣。

The story describes Chiou-Who(秋胡) joins in the army and leaves his home for many years. Years after, on his way back home, he meets a beautiful woman and felt attracted by her. Interestingly, this attractive lady that he meets and flirts with in a mulberry field is actually his wife that he fails to recognize. This story has been performed by different genres, poem, novel, drama through different generations and gradually becomes a typical plot. My essay concentrates on the two important elements- time and space and discusses how the structure of “Chiou-Who Flirts His Wife” (〈秋胡戲妻〉) presents different significance through varies of expressive forms in literature. I characterize this drama as an interesting presentation in dual structure with lots of contrasts and conflicts. Three points will be brought into detail discussion. 1). I review various different descriptions of the same plot, “ Chiou-Who Flirts His Wife” (秋胡戲妻), then see how the ‘time’ means significance to woman’s virtue in the different scripts and in relation to that how the characters present their personalities through different generation and by different authors. 2). Through the analysis of the scene- arrangements, I intend to point out an interesting relation between the representation of the ambiguous space and taboo. 3). The personalities of the characters have been repetitively confirmed through various tests in term of either ‘time’ or ‘space’, especially through the moral test for a wife’s virtue in this story. The dual structure of the drama “Chiou-Who Flirts His Wife” (秋胡戲妻)has its original intention, the intention to tell a moral lesson through various inharmonious conflicts. However, this original tragedy drama has been altered with many comedic elements in order to please the audience and satisfy their preferences of comedy. Therefore, the conflicts of life and death, chaste and unfaithful in this drama become soften. The moral lesson about the virtue gradually loses its importance; instead of unsolved conflicts, the drama has been given to a different intention, from a serious moral lecture on woman’s virtue to a simple attempt to entertain its audience.