The chaotic dynamics of a Duffing oscillator with a parametric force is investigated. By using the direct perturbation technique, we analytically obtain the general solution of the 1st-order equation. Through the boundedness condition of the general solution we get the famous Melnikov function predicting the onset of chaos. When the parametric and external forces are strong, numerical simulations show that increasing the amplitude of the parametric or external force can lead the system into chaos via period doubling.