本文從「鬧」的角度切入《牡丹亭》，依情節鋪展次序討論「鬧學」、「鬧殤」、「鬧婚」，指出《牡丹亭》刻意在正經的學堂、喪禮、婚禮場合中，安排嬉鬧唐突的橋段，藉以鬆動父執倫理的嚴肅面孔，發揚個人意志。最後再強調《牡丹亭》藉由卑位者以及邊緣人物的刻畫，達到出乎規矩的效果。

This article uses a light hearted perspective to examine The Peony Pavilion 《牡丹亭》, a beautiful love story which is performed with a traditional Chinese opera. The fun events of The Peony Pavilion are discussed in sequence. First, fun and games take place in a school, then they occur at a funeral, and finally they appear in a wedding. The occurrence of the interesting parts in The Peony Pavilion serve to loosen the patriarchal ethics and also enable the author, Tang Xian-Zu (湯顯祖), to demonstrate the concept of will. The descriptions of the substitutive and fringe characters create a sense of disorder and thus leave a deep impression on the reader.