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Rasselas (Johnson: X)
Nekayah/Pekuah tbh
Continued from this.
Ch 31:
They got the pyramids, but Pekuah (Nekayah's maid/lady's companion/whatever) panics and refuses to go in. They argue about ghosts (Rasselas: lol no, Imlac: cross-cultural beliefs must be true!). Eventually they decide to leave Pekuah at the tents with their retinue, and go into the pyramids themselves (though she begs Nekayah not to go either).
Best line: "Though I cannot teach courage...I must not learn cowardice." (Nekayah)
Ch 32:
They check out the pyramids and try to figure out why on earth they were constructed at all. Imlac falls back on Johnson's pet peeve, "that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always by some employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires."
It is an interesting concept, really—that enjoyment is by its nature unsatisfactory, and people are always driven to want more regardless of what they have, if they give into it.
Ch 33:
They return and find that their encampment was attacked by a band of Arabs, who would have robbed them if not for the convenient arrival of Turkish arrival. However, they managed to abduct Pekuah and her maids.
Ch 34:
They return home, Nekayah devastated, and her various attendants consoling her by reminding her that Pekuah has been so happy that a change of fortune was really inevitable, and she'll just have to pick another favourite.
....
They try various ways to track down Pekuah over the next two months, all of which fail. Nekayah blames herself for having indulged Pekuah's fears—if she'd been stricter with her and ordered her inside, it wouldn't have happened. Imlac, surprisingly enough, defends her empathetically: Great princess...do not reproach yourself for your virtue, or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally been caused. Your tenderness for the timidity of Pekuah was generous and kind.
Ch 35:
I'd just like to say for the record that the title of this one is "The Princess Languishes For Want of Pekuah."
Nekayah is moderately consoled by the knowledge that it's not her fault, turning from self-loathing to quiet sorrow. She spends all of her time remembering Pekuah and making decisions based entirely on what Pekuah would have advised. Rasselas tries to comfort her, but fails, and she constantly pushes Imlac to make more enquiries. He finally starts avoiding her, and she orders him to come to her, saying she doesn't blame him, she's just miserable, though he won't have to suffer her misery much longer, since she plans to become a hermit and then die and be reunited with Pekuah.
*sad violin sounds*
Imlac is rightly skeptical; hermiting always sucks, but her grief will fade. Nekayah insists she will never forget, ever, and he argues further about how sorrow seems overwhelming and eternal in the moment, but everything grows weaker with time, and eventually she'll be able to move on. Rasselas says she shouldn't withdraw from the world until they've finished searching for Pekuah, and makes her promise to wait a year, which she finds reasonable; he turns out to have been secretly prompted by Imlac, our local chessmaster.
Best line: "Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world."
Ch 36:
Nekayah starts to feel a bit better, and also feels guilty about it. So she schedules a time of day to mourn Pekuah (lol), and does genuinely grieve her, but eventually relaxes about the appointments. But he's careful to point out, "Her real love for Pekuah was yet not diminished." The performance of grief fades, but the love remains. She asks Imlac how to square the fact that feeling happy just makes her feel worse with the pursuit of happiness, but there's no answer.
Continued from this.
Ch 31:
They got the pyramids, but Pekuah (Nekayah's maid/lady's companion/whatever) panics and refuses to go in. They argue about ghosts (Rasselas: lol no, Imlac: cross-cultural beliefs must be true!). Eventually they decide to leave Pekuah at the tents with their retinue, and go into the pyramids themselves (though she begs Nekayah not to go either).
Best line: "Though I cannot teach courage...I must not learn cowardice." (Nekayah)
Ch 32:
They check out the pyramids and try to figure out why on earth they were constructed at all. Imlac falls back on Johnson's pet peeve, "that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always by some employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires."
It is an interesting concept, really—that enjoyment is by its nature unsatisfactory, and people are always driven to want more regardless of what they have, if they give into it.
Ch 33:
They return and find that their encampment was attacked by a band of Arabs, who would have robbed them if not for the convenient arrival of Turkish arrival. However, they managed to abduct Pekuah and her maids.
Ch 34:
They return home, Nekayah devastated, and her various attendants consoling her by reminding her that Pekuah has been so happy that a change of fortune was really inevitable, and she'll just have to pick another favourite.
....
They try various ways to track down Pekuah over the next two months, all of which fail. Nekayah blames herself for having indulged Pekuah's fears—if she'd been stricter with her and ordered her inside, it wouldn't have happened. Imlac, surprisingly enough, defends her empathetically: Great princess...do not reproach yourself for your virtue, or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally been caused. Your tenderness for the timidity of Pekuah was generous and kind.
Ch 35:
I'd just like to say for the record that the title of this one is "The Princess Languishes For Want of Pekuah."
Nekayah is moderately consoled by the knowledge that it's not her fault, turning from self-loathing to quiet sorrow. She spends all of her time remembering Pekuah and making decisions based entirely on what Pekuah would have advised. Rasselas tries to comfort her, but fails, and she constantly pushes Imlac to make more enquiries. He finally starts avoiding her, and she orders him to come to her, saying she doesn't blame him, she's just miserable, though he won't have to suffer her misery much longer, since she plans to become a hermit and then die and be reunited with Pekuah.
*sad violin sounds*
Imlac is rightly skeptical; hermiting always sucks, but her grief will fade. Nekayah insists she will never forget, ever, and he argues further about how sorrow seems overwhelming and eternal in the moment, but everything grows weaker with time, and eventually she'll be able to move on. Rasselas says she shouldn't withdraw from the world until they've finished searching for Pekuah, and makes her promise to wait a year, which she finds reasonable; he turns out to have been secretly prompted by Imlac, our local chessmaster.
Best line: "Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world."
Ch 36:
Nekayah starts to feel a bit better, and also feels guilty about it. So she schedules a time of day to mourn Pekuah (lol), and does genuinely grieve her, but eventually relaxes about the appointments. But he's careful to point out, "Her real love for Pekuah was yet not diminished." The performance of grief fades, but the love remains. She asks Imlac how to square the fact that feeling happy just makes her feel worse with the pursuit of happiness, but there's no answer.