Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia interrogates what constitutes true happiness and whether it is genuinely achievable. Through the journey of Rasselas and his companions, various lifestyles and philosophies are examined, each representing different ways of pursuing happiness, from contemplative solitude to intellectual achievement to pastoral simplicity. The travelers’ encounters with these lifestyles and their representatives highlight the diverse ways people seek satisfaction and the common disillusionment that follows.

The setting of Abyssinia and the broader world serves as a backdrop for this exploration, illustrating that external circumstances and lack of personal agency play a significant role in people’s lives and contribute to a universal sense of dissatisfaction:

Very few live by choice. Every man is placed in the present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly cooperate, and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbour better than his own (64).

The quote highlights that most people do not live in conditions they have chosen for themselves and that this lack of control contributes to the belief that others are happier, illustrating the inherent discontent within the human experience.