Lie Nu Zhuan was a highly didactic work intended to warn women against using their beauty to throw government into chaos, as had been done by the sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede.
劉向寫《列女傳》，出發點正是要「矯正」趙飛燕、趙合德姊妹媚道亂政的行為，具有濃厚的教化性目的。