In Rasselas, Johnson brings together a wide variety of his favorite themes. Rasselas was a prince of Abyssinia, destined-fated- to spend his life in "Happy Valley," till he is chosen to be the King. In Happy Valley Rasselas' every need is met. He is fed from being cared for and protected. However, Rasselas is unhappy in Happy Valley. Eventually Prince Rasselas, the poet Imlac, Princess Nekayah and her handmaid Pekuah find a way to leave Happy Valley to journey into the world. They went in search for Happiness.
It is about the human quest for happiness. They begin to visit many different kinds of people in an effort to find happiness and thus be to help in deciding their "choice of life." The group visit common people, shepherds, an astronomer, teachers, a wealthy man, and many others. However, the group encounters an unexpected problem; they are unable to find a person who is happy. Even people who appear happy often turn out to have complaints regarding their life. The apparently happy wealthy man complains that others want his wealth. The shepherds turn out to want to live somewhere else. Everyone is dissatisfied with their lot in life.
Rasselas is a philosophical tale that wonders about the nature of happiness. Rasselas does not provide any ready-made answers. The answers are left to the reader. those they encountered would have thought that Rasselas led a happy life because he and his group were able to travel freely where they liked, learning new things and meeting new people.
Rasselas provides an opportunity for a person of learning to contrast his life with that of others .
In Rasselas is about the search for the choice of life and the search for happiness.
Like almost everything else from Samuel Johnson, RASSELAS concerns the complete un-attainability of human happiness - the Vanity of Human Wishes –
In ,RASSELAS, man can not find happiness as he does not know that the source of happiness is always right there in front of his nose. Thus, any attempt to find happiness in the external world would end in failure.
The brilliance of Samuel Johnson is that he understood that those who seek happiness are the very ones who will never find it. This book is all about Rasselas and his friends as they try to figure out which "choice of life" will lead to happiness.
The conclusion of the book is that no choice of life will truly make you happy in this world. Happiness only comes after death when we meet up with our Maker.
The key is to simply accept life as it comes, do not try to find happiness.