Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: A Framework for Analyzing Female Characters in the Theater Bailu Plain

Abstract

Bailu Plain, written by Chen Zhongshi between 1988 and 1992, won the 4th Mao Dun Literature Award in China in 1998 and was selected for “the Collection of 70 Novels in the 70 Years of the People’s Republic of China” in 2019. At the same time, the novel has also been adapted into various art forms such as films, TV series, theaters, and a Qin opera. In the face of such an excellent work, many scholars consider it a selected topic. However, only some scholars have applied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory to analyze the motivations of the characters in the play. In this paper, we review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, analyze the motivations for the behavior of two female characters in the work of Bailu Plain, Tian Xiao’e, and Bai Ling, using different levels of the theory, and conclude the basic rules. With this article as an example, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory can be used as a theoretical framework for analyzing characters’ behavior in literary works in the field of social sciences, in addition to business and management psychology.