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In Johnson’s story Rasselas, Rasselas and his companions leave Abyssinia in order to fulfill “some desires distinct from sense which must be satisfied before they can be happy.” They desire to find true happiness, and believe a change in geographical location, may provide them with greater happiness. As Nekayah points out, this may be due to “the state of life,” where “none are happy but by the anticipation of change.” They change locations several times, and in their travels, find many answers indicating the way to obtain happiness. These answers are illustrated through Johnson’s arguments about happiness, which are made throughout the text. As a result of the answers provided, Rasselas and his companions decide to return to Abyssinia.
Although the group initially worked so hard to escape from Abyssinia, they eventually return to it. This illustrates how despite man’s best attempts, he cannot escape himself. While Rasselas blames the happy valley for his discontentment, it is his state of mind that actually produces his unhappiness. Yet in order for Rasselas to experience happiness, he must first “see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness.” His search, requiring experience in order to gain further insight and understanding, is very characteristic of human nature even today. In a college student’s search for a major, internships and experience often provide one with better insight for choosing a major, than do the readings of a chemistry book. While often these searches are full of experiences, the student ends up exactly where they began. The attainment of satisfaction with the present state enables one to focus beyond the preceding worries. A college student’s ability to focus on which job to pursue, rather than which major to pursue, relates to Rasselas and his companion’s ability to “think only on the choice of eternity,” rather than “the choice of life.” They return to Abyssinia, accepting their place in the world, and realizing from their travels, that every human, despite location, or wealth, never fully obtains “ideal” happiness.
Rasselas and his companions examine the happiness of different groups of people throughout their journey. They investigate whether or not different ways of living effect people’s happiness. One way of living, that Rasselas and his sister contemplate the happiness of, is marriage. They debate whether or not marriage makes people happier, and ponder whether marriage is best for everyone. Both make several interesting points in their argument. One argument suggests that when people court each other, they often find “themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together.” Human nature finds comfort in that which is familiar, and often fears that which is not. This comfort experienced in familiarity, often is mistaken for happiness. This may be the case for Rasselas, and his companions. Their return to Abyssinia may be due to their desire to feel comfort and stability again, and in their decision to return, they believe it will provide them with more happiness.
It seems that humans are never completely satisfied with the present state. They always hope for something more, and in hoping, find happiness. One suggestion presented in the text, encourages humans to “live according to nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable law with which every heart is originally impressed.” It may seem as if the ending of the story contraries to this suggestion in that the characters are always unhappy with what nature has provided them in the present. However, it is arguable that by searching for happiness, and seeking out answers to their questions, they live according to their own human nature, which inquires.
In addition to this suggestion to “live according to nature,” Johnson also makes the argument that men do not feel their “own happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of others.” This applies to the end of the story. Only after Rasselas and his companions have compared the state of living in the happy valley, to the state those who live elsewhere, do they decide to return to Abyssinia.
They return to Abyssinia because they realize that “happiness is never to be found.” Happiness does not grow on a tree, and does not reside in some physical space in the world, requiring a journey to, for attainment. It rather exists within the state of mind of an individual, and the outlook they bring to each day. Happiness also exists within the memory of an individual, because humans have “a mind replete with images which [they] can vary and combine at pleasure.” Rasselas and his companions discover that happiness is attainable. Yet they can never encounter the “ideal” happiness that human’s desire, because happiness does not exist without misery, and because it is human nature, to desire more.
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