Résumé
Résumé de Rasselas, prince d’Abyssinie
Go deeper: the whole of Rasselas, prince d’Abyssinie
About 2 h 30 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will enjoy this if you like short books that ask big questions, travel stories with sharp talk, and wise companions. It suits anyone who has chased a goal and wondered whether it would satisfy.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What would you do if you had every pleasure you could name and still woke up restless? That is the trouble of Rasselas, fourth son of the Emperor of Abyssinia. He lives in a hidden valley where nothing is lacking and nobody may leave, and he is miserable without knowing why.
Samuel Johnson, the English writer and dictionary maker, wrote this short tale in the form of an eastern journey. A prince, his sister Nekayah, her friend Pekuah and a weary poet named Imlac go out to test every way of life. The talk is sharp and often funny, and each scene sets a hope against a fact.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A prince has everything and wants somethingFree
- 2Hope drives the prince to plan an escape
- 3Imlac the poet tells how the world looks
- 4Out of the valley and into the first trials
- 5Courts, households, and the argument over marriage
- 6Loss, patience, and a mind that rules the sky
- 7Why happiness always seems to be somewhere else
- 8A tale told with irony, argument, and wit
Point clé 1 sur 8
A prince has everything and wants something
Rasselas is shut away in the Happy Valley until his turn to rule arrives. Mountains ring it on every side. The only way in is a cavern closed by iron gates, and no one who passes through may come back.
Inside, nature has been gathered and its evils kept out. The sages teach the princes that the world beyond the mountains is a place of constant misery. Most of them believe it. Rasselas, in his twenty-sixth year, does not.
He leaves feasts and walks away in the middle of songs. One day he speaks his trouble aloud, not knowing that an old teacher is following him. A beast is content once it has eaten and drunk, he says, but he is not.
The teacher asks how a man with everything can be unhappy. The prince answers that this is the trouble. If he lacked something, he would have a wish, and a wish would give him something to pursue. The old man says that if the prince had seen the miseries of the world he would value his state. Rasselas decides that he longs to see them.
Comfort without purpose leaves a restless mind hungrier than want ever could.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Rasselas, prince d’Abyssinie
About 2 h 30 min to read.Who’s who
- Rasselas
- The restless prince of Abyssinia who leaves a perfect valley to find which way of life brings true happiness.
- Imlac
- A poet and traveler who knows the world, warns the prince about it, and agrees to guide him.
- Nekayah
- The prince's sharp-minded sister, who joins the escape and studies private life while he studies courts.
- Pekuah
- Nekayah's devoted favorite, lively and fearful, who follows her mistress and learns about the stars.
- The Astronomer
- A generous scholar of the heavens who, after years alone, believes he controls the weather.
- The Hermit
- A former soldier who chose solitude and now doubts it, ready to return to the world.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 38,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Rasselas, prince d’Abyssinie
What is Rasselas about?
It follows an Abyssinian prince who flees a luxurious hidden valley with his sister Nekayah and the poet Imlac. They travel to Egypt to find which way of life brings true happiness, and test many of them.
What is the Happy Valley in Rasselas?
It is a closed valley in Amhara where the Abyssinian royal children live in comfort until they are called to rule. Mountains and iron gates enclose it, and everything pleasant is gathered inside while the world's evils are kept out.
Who is Imlac in Rasselas?
Imlac is a poet and scholar who traveled widely, returned home to disappointment, and then entered the valley. He becomes the prince's guide and speaks for experience, caution and the poet's wide view of nature and human life.
When was Rasselas written and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction by Samuel Johnson, set in an imagined Abyssinia and Egypt. It is a philosophical tale from the eighteenth century, built around conversations on happiness rather than real events.
What is the main message of Rasselas?
The book suggests that no single way of life guarantees happiness, since human desire always reaches beyond what it has. It points toward realistic hopes, honest friendship, useful work and the habit of living while choosing.
Cite this edition
Johnson, Samuel. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/rasselas-prince-of-abyssinia.
Johnson, S. (2026). Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rasselas-prince-of-abyssinia (Original work published 1759)
Johnson, Samuel. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rasselas-prince-of-abyssinia.
@book{johnson2026rasselas,
author = {Johnson, Samuel},
title = {Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rasselas-prince-of-abyssinia},
note = {First published 1759}
}
