夏志清在《中國現代小說史》中高度評價了〈金鎖記〉一文，認為是「中國自古以來最偉大的中篇小說。」國光劇團選擇〈金鎖記〉進行改編，一來固然是為魏海敏量身打造；二來主要是想藉由張愛玲的古典文字素養以及小說中所呈現的現代思想情感，來進行京劇現代化的實驗。本文透過《金鎖記》的劇本／舞臺空間的處理分析，窺探劇作家、導演藉由姜宅大院這個物質空間，想要訴說的言外之意？是權力？是欲望？還是人性的沉淪？而編導演又是如何利用舞臺空間來轉化小說文本，使意識流的文字具象化？最後，從舞臺空間的轉換方式來看《金鎖記》營造出來的舞臺效果與觀眾的觀戲心理和傳統戲曲有何不同？京劇現代化了嗎？

Eilleen Chang's "The Golden Cangue" is regarded as the greatest novella in Chinese history in C.T. Hsia's "A History of Modern Chinese Fiction". The National Guo Guang Opera Company has adapted "The Golden Cangue" to a Modern Chinese opera. One of the selection reasons is that the role is designed for the leading actress Wei Hai-Min. The other reason is to complete the experiment on the modernization of Chinese opera with Chang's classical writing accomplishment and the description of modern affections in her works. By analyzing the text/stage space of "The Golden Cangue", this thesis aims to explore the implication of "Jiang's Mansion". Does it represent power, desire, or degradation of humanity? Additionally, this thesis also attempts to discuss how the director converted a novel text into stage space and how the playwright made stream of consciousness concrete. At last, from the perspective of changing from the novella from to the stage space, this thesis tries to treat the difference between "The Golden Cangue" and traditional Jingju opera regarding stage effect and audience psychology. And it attempts to answer the question: Has Jingju opera been modernized?