在《牡丹亭》完成之後，它便廣受眾人的歡迎，特別是明清時期的女性讀者。大多數明清時期的女性讀者都是具有才媛身份的年輕女子，她們堅信這一虛構的故事是真實的，女主角杜麗娘也確實是她們自己情感的映照，因此，在閱讀《牡丹亭》的這群女性讀者都擁有強烈的情感行為和個人特質。每一位女性讀者在閱讀時，都會有自己「期待視野」的主動性，也就是選擇性的心理活動，這種心理活動常常在閨閣裡運作，當閨閣作為一種權利機制、參與文本意義的建構時，女性所處的空間閱讀便是她自己話語權建構的重要策略。其實，她們是以自己的經驗來詮釋或解讀這部作品，並依據自己的情感理解度來接受這部戲曲文學。她們中的大多數同意杜麗娘的行為與行徑，而少部份女性讀者則因個人主體性的相關概念和經驗，對杜麗娘的認識有不盡相同的面貌呈現，因此產生了多重異讀。當然，在閱讀語境下，女性讀者不僅對劇中人物、也對作者充滿了理解和想像。當身體被展示為女性的一種內在衝動力量時，女性身體的感知成為最佳的欲望反應。她們跨越文本、投射杜麗娘的情感在作者身上，因而展現女性「我」到身體「我」的自主性。是以，閱讀《牡丹亭》不僅僅是一種消遣娛樂，也是一種審美作用，故本文擬從期待視野、多重異讀、身體欲望三方面，來探討明清時期女性閱讀《牡丹亭》的心理社會活動。

After the completion of ＂The Peony Pavilion＂, it was popular among these readers especially with female ones in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of the female readers of ＂The Peony Pavilion＂ in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were youthful women with the litterateur's identity. They resolutely believed that the fictional story was true and they were looking at themselves emotion reflecting in the heroine Du Li-niang. Therefore, the female readers of the work had strong emotional behavior and characteristics. Meanwhine they interpreted the work from their own experience, and accepted the literature according to their own understanding of emotion. With access to ＂The Peony Pavilion＂, the female readers acquired their own features. Most of them agreed with Du Li-niang's behavior, by which they estimated and measured their living. They also compared their existence and inner feelings with the heroine's and imagined experiencing the same emotional sufferings as Du Li-niang's. By reading ＂The Peony Pavilion＂ and discussing the characters of Du Li-niang, the female readers realized their own beauty and awakened their sense of self-consciousness. Reading ＂The Peony Pavilion＂ was not noly for amusement but also for an eye for beauty. The purpose of this research is intended to explore the psychosocial activities of the female readers of ＂The Peony Pavilion＂ in the Ming and Qing Dynasties via three aspects: expectant horizon, variant perusal and bodily desire.