Rasselas: A Tale of Happiness and Human Endeavor

• Even in this place where there is no competition for power (the king is absolute) nor for goods (they are common), there is still a place for malice (cf. XII.35).
• Rasselas's encounter with the aeronautical engineer (VI) provides a pattern that is repeated throughout the narrative.
• The engineer's project would have seemed futile to Johnson's contemporaries: The attempt at human flight, though rational, is doomed to failure; the engineer's fall into the lake is typical of all human aspirations.
• The story of Imlac also prefigures the rest of the narrative: Though his father aspires only to the increase of wealth, Imlac recognizes that his own desire for the increase of knowledge does not bring him happiness.
• The possession of knowledge cannot prevent the loss of friends, nor does it bring status or wealth. In the end, it teaches the following: XI.32.
• The rest of the narrative is a series of illustrations of this truth.
• The four companions (Rasselas, Imlac, Nekayah, and Pekuah) reach Cairo and discover that the young men whose life is just a long series of parties have chosen a way of life that is empty.
• These place too much emphasis on the pleasures of the senses.
• But Rasselas next meets a philosopher who places too much emphasis on the capacity of human reason.
• The party next visits a group of shepherds to experience the pastoral life [XIX.48].
• As a contrast, they next visit a stately palace where they meet a wealthy and apparently happy man.
• But his happiness is destroyed by a lack of security against his enemy.
• They learn that he must soon flee his home for fear of invasion.
• When the party encounters a hermit, they discover the consequences of retiring from the world [XXI.52].
• Rasselas and Nekayah then divide.
• Nekayah, who investigates humble life, concludes that family life is full of disagreements and marriage a source of discord [XXVI.60-61].
• She concludes that domestic discord is not easily avoided.
• As if to prove this point, Rasselas and Nekayah then fall into disagreement about the result of their investigations until reprimanded by Imlac.
• Their visit to the pyramids, one of the greatest works of human ingenuity, shows only that the enormous labor of constructing them was without purpose [XXXII.73; cf. XI.30, 32].
• Back in Cairo, the companions meet an astronomer, a man of deep learning, who believes he has the power to control the weather.
• But this is not a simple portrait of a megalomaniac meteorologist.
• Rather than enjoying his power, the astronomer is made anxious by it [XLII.94].
• The cause of his predicament is his solitude, both social and intellectual.
• This episode is particularly powerful because the astronomer has many of the qualities most associated with happiness: He has great wisdom, benevolence, and generosity.
• Yet his devotion to learning has led to the worst of human predicaments: madness.
• The distance between merit and reward is at its largest here [XLIII.96].
• Interpolated into the tale of the astronomer is a discourse with an old man.
• This man, like the astronomer, has found that age does not alleviate, but rather intensifies, the disappointments of life.

The Conclusion, in Which Nothing is Concluded

The final chapter, "The conclusion, in which nothing is concluded," suggests a continuation of the irony and lack of definitive answers that are present in the rest of the tale.

• Rasselas and his companions have learned to be skeptical about easy answers to the problem of human happiness, yet each of them forms "schemes of happiness" [XLIX.112].
• And so they return to Abyssinia.
• Pekuah forms her "scheme of happiness" around the convent of St. Anthony.
• Yet the choices of the other characters suggest an engagement with the world, rather than a retreat from it.
• The return to Abyssinia is not an acceptance of defeat, but a recognition that no one place is more favorable than happiness than any other.
• Rather than suggesting that a denial of earthly pleasures is the best life for a Christian, the lessons of the tale suggest that happiness is best achieved by: Moderation of expectations, determination to strive, and a willingness to find happiness in any situation.
• The tale ends as neither wholly Christian, nor wholly secular.
• It is a guide to life based on hope, temperance, and wisdom which is committed to an engagement with the world [XXIX.68].