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26 October 2025

A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Female Protagonist “Haitang” in the Red Opera Yimeng Mountain

Miaomiao He1 Jueling Liu2
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1 Zhanjiang University of Science and Technology, Zhanjiang 524000, Guang Dong, China
2 Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300000, China
CEF 2025 , 3(9), 50–53; https://doi.org/10.18063/CEF.v3i9.1074
© 2025 by the Author. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The national opera Yimeng Mountain, rooted in the historical context of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, vividly portrays the growth trajectory of the female protagonist Haitang from an ordinary village woman to a revolutionary heroine. From a psychoanalytic perspective, this paper employs Freudian theories of id, ego, superego, and defense mechanisms to interpret Haitang’s character. It explores how Haitang copes with wartime trauma, inner conflicts, and identity transformations through psychological mechanisms such as sublimation, repression, and reparation. Additionally, it analyzes the interaction between her psychological development and the “Yimeng spirit” in the cultural context of red opera. The research reveals that Haitang’s external acts of sacrifice and dedication are essentially the externalization of internal psychological dynamics, and the opera’s artistic expression further amplifies this psychological depth, providing a new perspective for the interpretation of red opera characters.

Keywords
Yimeng mountain
Haitang
Psychoanalytic interpretation
Defense mechanisms
Red opera
Character analysis
References

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