Samuel Johnson's tale, The Story of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, tells the story of a young man, Rasselas, dissatisfied with his current life in a utopian society. He strives to venture out of the only existence he has ever known in order to see and understand the trials that people actually endure in the real world. Through the many experiences he witnesses and participates in throughout his journey outside of his seemingly perfect society, he realizes that happiness is not something he can simply decide to pursue. His sister, Nekayah, also joins him on his adventure and they come together to understand that happiness is a fleeting, ever-changing state of being that cannot be grasped or forced. Johnson's story seems to underline the idea that there really is no such thing as a guarantee of happiness, and the more you search and aspire for it, the further away you get from it wasting your life trying to grasp for something. something that is too illusory for you. human control. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayRasselas and his sister Nekayah are from Happy Valley, a utopian place where life is devoid of all suffering. It is a place where “all the diversities of the world were gathered together, the blessings of nature were gathered together, and her evils extracted and excluded” (Johnson, 2858). They are accustomed to a place whose structure seems to be utopian, but they are still not satisfied and do not feel satisfied with the state of their lives. In this near-perfect place, “every desire was immediately granted,” but Rasselas finds himself wanting more, because he is unhappy with his current situation (Johnson, 2858). The people of Happy Valley “had everything within their reach” because it is an extremely difficult place to leave and many people do not want to (Johnson, 2859). However, Rasselas is not satisfied with having his every desire fulfilled and not really knowing what life outside of his current existence is truly like. He seems to be grappling with and trying to understand the concept that happiness cannot be truly obtained without sadness, as he reveals that he wants to “receive some comfort from the miseries of life” (Johnson 2860). Rasselas wants to leave the utopian society that is Happy Valley, and he often consults his instructor, Imlac, for advice on the matter. Imlac tells the young prince that happiness cannot exist, be known, or truly felt without the presence of misery, and in response Rasselas expresses his desire "to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness" (Johnson, 2861). The young prince meets an artist who is working to create a device capable of swimming and flying, which Rasselas sees as a way to escape his miserably utopian world. The artist explains to the prince the importance of the "work of getting out of the ground", which is not only how the device will work, but also how getting through difficult times in life works, because happiness is not always a guarantee (Johnson, 2864). Rasselas wishes so badly to find a happier existence than the one he currently knows, but it is not a task that can be accomplished simply because he wants to. Once successfully released from Happy Valley, Rasselas seeks more guidance from Imlac, and listens to his life story in order to better understand the world he is about to become a part of. Imlac tells the young prince that “human life is everywhere a state in which one must endure many things and enjoy little of them”(Johnson, 2873). Imlac, the wise poet, teacher and philosopher, seems to be trying to prepare the naive Rasselas for the difficulties that real life presents and the fact that happiness will not be within his reach simply because he hungers for it. Imlac asks the prince and princess to find their "life choice" several times throughout the narrative, which seems to allude to the fact that both characters have the ability to choose their path in life in the hope that happiness follows, but happiness itself cannot be the final goal for success, because life is “a journey whose end cannot be perceived” (Johnson, 2878). Rasselas wants so much to find happiness, but perhaps this is not the right way to seek the meaning he so desires in his life, because it is an ephemeral state of being that cannot be achieved by simple desire. He wants happiness to be “something solid and permanent, without fear and uncertainty,” but Imlac attempts to show how incorrect this notion is (Johnson, 2881). It seems that in Imlac's eyes, he sees that people from all walks of life may experience life in different ways and have different approaches to life, but that their happiness is never guaranteed, no matter how prosperous their life may seem. path. Rasselas and Nekayah seem to accept this idea when they meet rich and poor people who have similar views on life. After meeting the wealthy families, Rasselas reveals that it is possible to know people with "the most beautiful display of prosperity and peace, and not to know a single house that is not haunted by a fury that destroys its tranquility." (Johnson, 2889). Upon meeting the poorest families, Rasselas concluded that “every day is wasted preparing for the next day” (Johnson, 2889). Nothing in life can guarantee happiness, not even monetary status, and more people than Rasselas and her sister expected struggle to find the solace they also yearn for. Imlac also seems to express the idea in Johnson's tale that happiness is an illusory and transitory state. of being that is not only difficult to grasp, but can also be prevented from being attained due to one's own human intervention. He speaks to the prince about the dangers of envy, explaining that he “will rarely meet anyone who does not think that his neighbor’s lot is better than his own” (Johnson, 2880). Imlac seems acutely aware of the tendency for happiness to seem stronger and more apparent when it is in someone else's hands, when in reality everyone struggles in the same way. Rasselas meets a master of Bassa during his trip to Cairo and discovers that although he leads a fruitful life full of abundance, he is also unhappy because his "prosperity endangers [his] life" (Johnson 2884) . Even living a life with significant social status and economic status is not enough to guarantee the limits of happiness, Rasselas realizes. As he talks with his sister, Princess Nekayah, about the people they once met, they talk about the life of a hermit. Living in solitude to escape the evils he has experienced throughout his life, the hermit admits that he has no “desire that [his] example should find imitators” (Johnson, 2885). The young prince and princess begin to realize that living in fear of downfall or loss of prosperity and fleeing unhappiness are two ways in which real happiness is further prevented. Nekayah comes to an enlightened realization about happiness when she says that “a stable prospect of a happier state; it can enable us to endure calamities with patience; but remember that patience must involve pain” (Johnson, 2892). The princess seems to be starting to.