The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia · Chapter
Disquisition Upon Greatness explained
Rasselas and Nekayah debate the nature of greatness and happiness.
What happens
Rasselas and Nekayah debate the nature of greatness and happiness. Rasselas argues that high stations are not abodes of happiness, as those in power face opposition, betrayal, and the impossibility of perfect justice. Nekayah counters that virtue does not guarantee visible happiness, as both good and bad suffer alike from natural and political evils.
Themes in this chapter
The Vanity of Human Wishes
Rasselas argues that greatness and power do not bring happiness, as those in high stations face opposition, betrayal, and inevitable injustice.
The Inevitability of Suffering
Nekayah observes that both virtuous and wicked suffer alike from natural and political evils, suggesting suffering is universal and unavoidable.
The Choice of Life
Rasselas contrasts the burdens of high stations with the imagined peace of humble privacy, reflecting on the choices that lead to happiness.
Characters to notice
- Rasselas
Rasselas argues that greatness and power do not bring happiness, citing the inevitable opposition, betrayal, and injustice faced by those in high stations.
- Nekayah
Nekayah responds that virtue does not always produce visible happiness, as both good and bad suffer equally from natural and political calamities.
- Imlac
Imlac's earlier predictions are referenced by Rasselas as faint sketches compared to the evils Nekayah has painted.
Key passages
“The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled from thrones and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid obscurity.”
Rasselas concludes that great power and wealth do not bring happiness; instead, happiness has retreated to simple, private, and unnoticed lives.
Rasselas expresses the central argument of the chapter: happiness is not found in grandeur but in obscurity.
“All that virtue can afford is quietness of conscience and a steady prospect of a happier state; this may enable us to endure calamity with patience, but remember that patience must oppose pain.”
Nekayah argues that virtue only provides inner peace and hope for an afterlife, helping us bear suffering with patience, but patience itself is a struggle against pain.
Nekayah counters Rasselas's optimism about humble life, emphasizing that virtue does not shield one from suffering.