I enjoyed this Rasselas reading as much as the first part. Since our discussion on Wednesday, I was able to focus in on some of those aspects we talked about and find examples of them in the text. For example, I saw many more instances where we see Rasselas's true motives for going on this journey. At the beginning of this section, Rasselas enjoys a lecturer's speech so much that he pays him in gold coins so that the lecturer will teach him his doctorines. After doing so, Rasselas wishes to imitate his life and preach as the lecturer had. It is evident that Rasselas does not wish to truly help people, but rather look like the hero and gain peoples' attention, even if that is gained through false means.
I found some of the ideas in this section interesting, such as, when the princess talks about poverty being concealed in the large cities and the feuds between parents and children. There is no love between them - only competition. Also, the idea of marriage as a mode of misery was interesting. They talked about marriage being hasty in young couples, therefore leading to misery. This idea could parallel that of the characters leaving the happy valley hastily, leading to their dissatisfied findings of the real world.
The imagery of the pyramids stuck with me as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I can't decide how I feel about Rasselas and his decision to try to venture out of his utopia. Part of me feels like he was being selfish to give up everything he had for something he wasn't even sure existed. The other part of me feels like the happy valley was holding him back; his natural curiosity could have been an excellent trait to have had he been in the "real world" for his entire life. I think that because he was not raised completely in the real world and then did not stay completely isolated in the happy valley, he was not quite suited for either of them. If he had only known one or the other, he would have been content with his life. But because his views were somewhat spoiled by the other life, he ended up not being content with either. Do you think that Rasselas and his sister were more suited for happy valley or for the real world? Could they truly be happy in either?
Post a Comment