As Matt pointed out in class on Tuesday, while reading The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, it was difficult not to be reminded of philosophical texts, specifically Plato’s Socratic Dialogues. Like Socrates, Rasselas is devoted to understanding the human condition thorough engaging in an often intense dialogue with every character he comes into contact with, resulting in pages and pages of purely conversational, dialogic composition. Certainly this is a different sort of writing than we’ve been accustomed to reading in the Prose Narrative course, (unlike the first person form of Crusoe, the mostly epistolary form of Pamela and its parodies, and the fairly dialogue-less Fantomina) so it’s a nice change of pace.
To be perfectly honest, the dialogic nature of The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, as well as the exotic oriental setting (that doesn’t really come into play all that much once the main characters are introduced) sets this novel apart from many of the 18th Century works that I’ve had the opportunity to read. The one aspect of the novel that does seem to jive with the sensibilities of 18th Century prose is the personality of the Prince. When we meet Rasselas he is depressed, unmoved by the great wealth his family possesses. The only thing that can move Rasselas is the thought of venturing out of the palace to see the suffering of the world so that he may appreciate happiness. This noble, perhaps even slightly heroic, venture is representative of the role of males in literature during the Romantic Period.
Nice observations.
Like you, I didn’t feel any of the preconceived stereotypes about the Orient that people have did not really come into play here. When we meet the main character, he does seem to embody the male often depicted in the Romantic Period….