Rasselas, the fourth son of the King of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia), is shut up in a beautiful valley called The Happy Valley, "till the order of succession should call him to the throne".[17] Rasselas enlists the help of an artist who is also known as an engineer to help with his escape from the Valley by plunging out through the air, though they are unsuccessful in this attempt. Rasselas grows weary of the factitious entertainments of the place and, after much brooding, escapes with his sister Nekayah, her attendant Pekuah and his poet-friend Imlac by digging under the wall of the valley. They are to see the world and search for happiness in places such as Cairo and Suez. After a sojourn in Egypt, where they encounter various classes of society and undergo a few adventures, they perceive the futility of their search and return to Abyssinia after none of their hopes for happiness are achieved.[18]
The story is primarily episodic.[18] According to Borges, "Johnson wrote this book in such a slow, musical style ... in which all the sentences are perfectly balanced. There is not a single sentence that ends abruptly, and we find a monotonous, but very agile, music, and this is what Johnson wrote while he was thinking about the death of his mother, whom he loved so much".[6]
Character list
- Rasselas – son of the King of Abyssinia
- Imlac – a philosopher, son of a merchant, who has come to the Happy Valley only to find that life there is empty
- Nekayah – sister and travelling companion of Rasselas
- Pekuah – Nekayah's attendant
- The Hermit- One of the first men Rasselas meets on his journey. Discourages him from a life of solitude.
- The Master - One of Rasselas’s teachers, he learns of Rasselas’s discontent and tries to encourage him to be content in the valley of Happiness.
- The Bassa - The highest title of honour in the Ottoman Empire. The Bassa does little to help his subjects.
- The Engineer - Rasselas is intrigued by this man's mechanical understanding and observes his attempt to create a flying contraption. However, he ultimately fails.
- The Astronomer - A learned man that lives in solitude. He confesses to Imlac that he believes he can control the weather. Later he comes back to his sense after a visit of Pekuah and Nekayah.
