從人性「自我之私」與「大我之公」的界線去審度《金瓶梅》所描寫之世態炎涼與人情冷暖兩種對比，人物的死亡結局就顯得警世意味濃厚，且大多數人物的死亡是基於過度擴張的欲望之上、天理的懲罰之下，是作者精心安排下的結果。作者將其認為具有危險性、侵略性的「私」標上死亡的記號，透過死亡的教訓，世人得以攬鏡自照引西門一家之醜為戒，明顯的具有引導人心向善的企圖，因此必須對作者使用「私」的手法有所認識。 《金瓶梅》刻意把死亡與私欲緊緊聯繫在一起，再延伸死亡的心理作用與生人的恐懼接軌，企圖使讀者信服生死因果的成立，把人性拉回到善的界線範圍內。本論文試圖分析作者在變革的思潮中正視人性欲望與天理良知的矛盾，針對失衡的社會秩序提出修正意識，並通過小說使讀者獲得警覺、醒悟和淨化的目的。 「縱欲成私」和「增欲導悲」兩種歷程和「空結情色」的論證，是本論文探討《金瓶梅》中天理人情與私欲發展的主要結構。第二章闡述書中對於各種欲望的累積與描寫，第三章談及生命價值與作者安排死亡情結的思考模式，第四章就小說結尾分析空結情色如何對於人性創造解冤意識與呈現作者的社會關懷，當作者把人跟人之間真摯的情感，刻意安排在一堆汙穢的黑暗中使其更顯光芒時，《金瓶梅》的價值就更貼近人性的價值。 Analyzing the contrast between warm and coldness, cruelty and kindness of people revealed in the novel Jin Pin Mei in terms of the line between "individual self" and "higher self" in human natures, it is clear that the death of the characters in the end carries a strong undertone of warning. In most occasions, the death of the characters was carefully plotted by the author to signify the excessive expansion of desires would eventually lead to the punishment of gods – death. The author related those "individual selves", which he considered to be with dangerous and aggressive nature, to death. Through lessens of death, the author intended to make the Xie-men's family scandal a warning to people and thus promoted moral awareness. Hence, it is important to understand various methods the author applied to elaborating "individual self" in this context. In Jin Pin Mei, through binding death and desires together and taking advantage of the living's fear of death, the author intended to establish a convincing cause - consequence circle of life and death and thus eventually to lead human nature back to the boundary of good. This thesis analyzes how the author, facing the changing of thought in his time, examined the conflict between human desires and conscience and provoked awareness of correction against the imbalanced social order. This thesis also explores how the author attempted to make the readers aware of the warning via his novel, and thus to promote self-reflect and eventually to achieve the goal of purification. In this thesis, the discussion of justice and human relationship and the development of human desires in Jin Pin Mei includes exploring the process of "excessive-expansion-of-desires-leading-to-selfishness-and-tragedy" and examining the argument of "end-lusts-with-total-emptiness-of-Buddhism". Chapter 2 mainly discuses how all kinds of human desires were elaborated in Jin Pin Mei, while chapter 3 explores the value of life and the ideology the author of the novel based on when plotting the death of the characters. Chapter 4 focuses on the discussion of the end of the novel and analyzes the effect of the concept of "end-lusts-with-total-emptiness-of-Buddhism" toward the salvation of human nature. The novel also demonstrated the author's awareness of social concern. It is the author's intention to stand out the true affection among people by plotting the stories in the dark side of the society, which makes the value of Jin Pin Mei even closer to the value of human nature.
