When Samuel Johnson Told Us All Human Wishes Were Worthless

Samuel Johnson: telling us the things we don't wanna hear

In The Vanity of Human Wishes, Samuel Johnson smacks down society on every vice it has. Through his use of title, order, and references to history, Johnson puts up a compelling argument: that all human wishes are worthless. Fame, wealth, time, beauty, you name it! It’s all worthless in the end.

Title Says It All

Vanity: The quality of being useless or futile

Straight out, Johnson is out to tell it like it is. Through his title, he lays the grounds for his thesis by introducing us to the idea. When he names the piece “The Vanity of Human Wishes”, he isn’t talking about vanityas in excessive pride. In this case, it means the quality of being worthless. Thus, Johnson has named his piece “the Worthlessness of Human Wishes”. Johnson does this in order to let us know the subject matter of his piece, which goes onto describe why human wishes are worthless.

Order

Through the order of his piece, Johnson systematically dismantles the main human wishes and gives us the reasons they are worthless and will cause our downfall. He begins with wealth, saying “Wealth heap’d on wealth, nor Truth nor Safety buys/The Dangers gather as the Treasures rise”. Johnson says this to prove that wealth will bring danger, as well as not being able to buy us the things in life that matter. In the end, though we may want to be rich, it won’t bring us peace or safety, a point Johnson makes further, saying “Encrease his Riches and his Peace destroy/New Fears in dire Vicissitude invade”. Thus Johnson crosses out one human wish on his list, and declares this one worthless, for it brings only trouble and danger.

Johnson turns his pen to attack the wish to be famous and great. In a line, he surmises why this, too, is a worthless wish: “They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.” For though you can be famous in a shining moment, fame doesn’t last, and you will fall. Thus, fame is not lasting, and neither is its happiness. And so, Johnson declares another human wish worthless, and tosses it off.

Referencing the Historical Mess-ups

"In full-blown Dignity, see Wolsey stand."

Samuel Johnson continues in this vein of ordering attacks on human wishes. In doing so, he references many historical figures to make his point. One figure he references is Thomas Wolsey: “In full-blown Dignity, see Wolsey stand”. Wolsey was a bishop who had it all in the time of King Henry VIII. Johnson illustrates his power by saying, “To him the Church, the Realm, their Pow'rs consign”. Johnson uses Wolsey, a man who had everything, to make a point about human wishes. “Still to new Heights his restless Wishes tow'r,” Johnson writes, “Till Conquest unresisted ceas'd to please”. Johnson is trying to make the point that Wolsey kept wishing for more and more, until he ceased to please and lost it all. The reader of the time understands this line, because it was common knowledge that Wolsey failed to annul the king’s marriage. When he did, he lost all of his power and died of sickness soon after. Johnson uses Wolsey as an example, of those who achieved success and lost it all. “His Suppliants scorn him, and his Followers fly;” Johnson writes, to illustrate how Wolsey loses his followers with his power. Johnson is using Wolsey to communicate that power is a human wish that is worthless because it does not last.

In Conclusion...

In conclusion, Johnson saw the wishes that society had, and proves each one hollow and fleeting; each wish is a precarious balancing game that ends badly. Our want for power and wealth only lead us to danger, and fame is here now and gone tomorrow. History proves time and time again that those who found the wishes were not happy, they lost it all and were overthrown. In proving that all human wishes are worthless, Johnson is bring people to an understanding of an ethical issue. He is calling for people to change their lifestyles when they see the truth.