男性多偶之家中妻子的自保策略 --明清小说家庭女性掠影

作者通过对明清小说中家庭女性地位的研究，认为在男性多偶家庭中，妻、妾、婢的地位高低有别。她们的地位升降变化，取决于男人的喜怒。为了争取男人的宠爱，妻、妾、婢明争暗斗。处于斗争漩涡中心的妻子为妻之道十分艰难：她们要么维护妻道尊严失去丈夫宠爱，要么降妻道为妾道媚夫求宠。

Self-protection of Wives in Polygynous Family in Novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties

In polygynous families in the Novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the positions of wife, concubine and servant girls were different. And the change of their positions depended on their husbands' moods. They involved themselves in both open strife and veiled struggle to get the favor of the man. The lawful wife faced difficult choices in the struggle: ether to stand on her dignity of wifehood while losing the favor of his husband, or to seek the favor while reducing herself from wifehood to concubinehood.