本文以西施故事為主，兼及貂蟬、孫夫人故事，從三個角度探討美人計的內涵：一、美人計的隱喻與禁忌：這些故事都運用美人計以達到政治上的目的，因此美人計基本上即是「女禍」的隱喻，利用「美女禍國」、「女性不得干政」的性禁忌與性別禁忌，達到興己滅敵與鞏固政權的目的。二、美人計的敘事與修辭：西施故事的敘事可分為兩種類型，一是滲入愛情成份的，以＜浣紗記＞為代表；一是沒有愛情成份的，以＜東周列國誌＞為代表。二者在修辭上，均運用「美化」的原則，使美人成為色藝雙全，更具有惑敵亂亡的魅力。前者又將西施、范蠡的關係加以「淨化」，使之合乎禮法；後者則完全不採納西施、范蠡的愛情故事，是為更徹底的「淨化」，使西施不具情感，沒有變節倒戈的疑慮。三、美人計的性別政治：美人計中，女性作為「交換」的物品與象徵是相當明顯的，也符合男╲女╲男的性別關係的模式，女性成為政治的工具，欠缺主體性。而浪漫的愛情更成為脅迫其順從父權秩序的重要來源。以這些觀點看貂蟬與孫夫人故事，貂蟬之所以成功，因為說故事的人完全去除貂蟬的真感情，她反而藉著愛情，輕易操縱呂布與董卓；然而控制貂蟬的，卻是王允對她如父般的親情與忠貞愛國的說辭，故此美人計雖然成功，但貂蟬仍欠缺主體性。東吳孫權、周瑜欲以孫夫人為美人計，結果失敗，關鍵在於孫夫人順從夫婦倫理，因此將父母之國與兄妹之情拋諸腦後。與歷史有關的美人計無法擺脫性別的脅迫，因為它是歷史的，也是政治的產物，是屬於男性的話語與機制。唯有脫離歷史政治，在劇作家關漢卿筆下，我們看到趙盼兒、譚記兒這兩位女性，主動行使美人計，搭救友朋、丈夫，她們不是被交換的物，而是行使交換權的主體；美人計的敘事，至此才突破舊有的格局，展現新的意義。

　　　　　This paper is concerned mainly with the story of the beauty of Xi Shi (西施) as well as those of other beuties like Diao Chan (貂蟬), Madome Sun (孫夫人),Zhao Pan Er (趙盼兒) and Tan Ji Er (譚記兒). The significant meanings of the content of the beauty snare have been researched from three different perspeclives: (1) the metaphor and taboo of the beauty snare,(2)the harration and rhetoric of the beauty snare, and (3) the gender politics of the beauty snare. The results of this research have been drawn as follows: (1) the beauty snare is a metaphor for "female evil",along with the taboo of its own that the beauty would cauce calamities for her nation so the womer were not allowed to interfere in politics, (2) with the rhedoric strategy of 'beaulification' and 'purification', the beauty had been maintaired perfect in the snare as both her beauty and accomplishmenls, loyal and contributive as to her national identity, and in particular, the beauty had been trained with the capability to topple the enemy, (3) women have been symbolized as 'exchange' in the beauty snare where the gender relations of men-women-men had been revealed with the women being the tool of politics and obedient to the order of the patriarchate society, (4) Among all the beauties, only the two Zhao Pan Er (趙盼兒) and Tan Ji Er (譚記兒), accorcling to Guan Han Qing (關漢卿), one of the renowned dramatists in china, were described as having the personal sovereignity to break the and the plot of the beauty snare.