自魯迅在《中國小說史略》中有言「以意度之，則俗文之興，當由兩端，一為娛心，一為勸善」，更評「明人擬作末流，乃誥誡連篇，喧而奪主」，可謂開啟學界批評話本小說道德味過重的濫觴，並引出道德味過重乃是致使話本小說衰微或夭折的主因之一。該說非但幾乎為學界所認同，各大版本的小說史或文學史可見其況，同時更成為學界批評話本小說是否該列為佳作的重要指標。然評論者往往忽略一點，即當將話本小說的創作出版，置於明清兩代的社會風氣觀之，亦即「道德味過重」乃是「以今論古」的後設結果，恐怕很難將「道德味過重」與「話本小說的衰微或夭折」等同連結。職是之故，本論文首先評述學界對於話本小說何以僅有百年短暫歷史之因的兩派說法：衰微及夭折；接著試圖從三方面破解此迷思：（一）、藉由話本小說的序跋與故事內容，論述其「道德思維」與「勸教創作」的必要性；（二）、釐清話本小說的文體特徵，避免如孫楷第所言的「其體近乎雜書小說」的純勸世作品摻雜其中，並矯正「短篇白話小說」即「話本小說」的混淆之言；（三）、透過多回體話本小說的出現，拉長小說情節，看待「道德味過重」與此轉變之關係。
本文期望藉此釐清話本小說本是以「醒心覺世」為創作出版目標，而此目標未必與話本小說衰落夭折有必然關連，以破除「以今論古」之後設迷思。

As Lu Xun said, public literature is based on two things: one is for
entertainment, and the other is for morality. Then, the reason why
Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo decayed was due to the fact that latter is more than the
former. And this specific opinion has great effects. Namely, not only academic circle but also editiors of history of literature take this as a standard rule; that is, they use it to decide whether a novel is good or not.
Nevertheless, too much morality in Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo did not inevitably
result in its decay. Since critics ignored the different background and other factors. Therefore, for one thing, this article states the reason why academic circle considers that Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo decayed and ended prematurely within only a hundred year.
Then, I will focus on three dimensions to dissect this prejudice.
First of all, this essay emphasizes the necessity of moral thinking and
moral-educated writing from its preface, postscript, and the story. Secondly, I point out the real traits of Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo to distinguish it from short stories and other novels. Then, the last but not the least, we readers can find out the development of morality and its change from those longer novels which possess larger catalogues and plots.
To sum up, this article anticipates to clear the“prejudice”in academic circle. To be more specific, though the purpose of Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo’s publication is to educate society, in its moral design morality in Hua-Ben-Xiao-Shuo did not result in its decay.