Happiness In Samuel Johnson's History Of Rasselas
In the “History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia” by Samuel Johnson, we join the characters in their search of happiness. Each one takes a look into the lives of those that they perceive as being happy, only to find out that no one seems to actually behold happiness in their lives. At the end of the tale we come across an ambiguous ending, that can be interpreted a lesson from Johnson that happiness cannot be constant in the mortal world, and we can only hope that this constancy can be found in eternal life.
Throughout their adventures, the prince, princess, Imlac, and Pekuah, come across those who are extremely wealthy and those who pretend to be, each one is unhappy in their own way. They find men of power who cannot enjoy it because they
are hunted by adversaries, and men who have isolated themselves to hide from evil, but find that simultaneously they have cut out good as well. The travelers examine those in marriages, and find that different stages of marriage only bring different stages of discontent. All of their studies have shown that there seems to be no mortal avenue that leads to happiness, wither materialistic or not.
Due to this lack of insight of happiness from mortals, an astronomer they have met takes them to the catacombs of the pyramids, to see if the dead can provide any insight to achieving happiness. Here Nekeayah states “To me the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity.” In the conclusion of the tale, were little is settled, the travelers realize that their dreams will not bring them happiness, because nobody’s dreams have, and they settle on going back to the happy valley of Abissinia. There, their only hope of happiness is to be found in an unknown, eternal life. They learned that this life does not matter nearly as much as the next, and hope that the decisions they choose will bring a happy afterlife.
Johnson’s ending is quite pessimistic in its finding, which suggest that lasting happiness is not for the mortal realm. However, it does leave a hint of optimism, in that maybe an eternal life will provide us with the things we seek in vein in this life. That our actions here will procure us a future that is more important than our present lives.
Throughout their adventures, the prince, princess, Imlac, and Pekuah, come across those who are extremely wealthy and those who pretend to be, each one is unhappy in their own way. They find men of power who cannot enjoy it because they
are hunted by adversaries, and men who have isolated themselves to hide from evil, but find that simultaneously they have cut out good as well. The travelers examine those in marriages, and find that different stages of marriage only bring different stages of discontent. All of their studies have shown that there seems to be no mortal avenue that leads to happiness, wither materialistic or not.
Due to this lack of insight of happiness from mortals, an astronomer they have met takes them to the catacombs of the pyramids, to see if the dead can provide any insight to achieving happiness. Here Nekeayah states “To me the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity.” In the conclusion of the tale, were little is settled, the travelers realize that their dreams will not bring them happiness, because nobody’s dreams have, and they settle on going back to the happy valley of Abissinia. There, their only hope of happiness is to be found in an unknown, eternal life. They learned that this life does not matter nearly as much as the next, and hope that the decisions they choose will bring a happy afterlife.
Johnson’s ending is quite pessimistic in its finding, which suggest that lasting happiness is not for the mortal realm. However, it does leave a hint of optimism, in that maybe an eternal life will provide us with the things we seek in vein in this life. That our actions here will procure us a future that is more important than our present lives.