Such Things Are: A Play, in Five Acts

In Short

Set on the island of Sumatra, this dramatic work centers on Haswell, a man dedicated to relieving the suffering of prisoners across the globe. When his humanitarian efforts bring him into the orbit of the local Sultan, he orchestrates a confrontation between the ruler and his own victims. Part satire, part moral fable, the play remains a significant piece of eighteenth-century drama for its biting critique of political sycophancy, its early advocacy for penal reform, and its surprisingly earnest exploration of empathy in an age of unchecked tyranny.

The Story

The narrative begins at the home of Sir Luke Tremor, an Englishman residing in Sumatra, whose household is a whirlwind of social anxiety and vanity. His wife, Lady Tremor, is obsessed with status, while their guest, the insufferable flatterer Twineall, spends his time currying favor by tailoring his opinions to fit the whims of whoever is in the room. Into this superficial world walks Haswell, a man of quiet, unwavering principle. Haswell is not interested in the social games of the ruling class; his life’s work is the relief of prisoners. He spends his days in the dark, crowded dungeons where the Sultan’s political enemies—and those merely suspected of dissent—languish in misery.

Haswell discovers that the Sultan is a man of contradictions: he is a leader who fears his own people, convinced that they view him as an impostor. This fear has curdled into cruelty, leading him to fill his prisons with wretches based on nothing more than rumor. Haswell, having earned the Sultan’s respect through his medical skills, extracts a promise from the ruler to grant him one boon. Rather than asking for money or status, Haswell demands that the Sultan visit the prisons to witness the human cost of his paranoia firsthand.

As the plot thickens, the lives of the household members intersect with the state’s cruelty. Young Elvirus, desperate to save his father from the dungeons, seeks Haswell’s help, while the foolish Twineall inadvertently lands himself in prison after his incessant, inconsistent political posturing is misinterpreted as sedition. The climax unfolds in the prison itself. The Sultan arrives in disguise, expecting to see rebels, but is instead confronted by the victims of his own governance—among them, his long-lost wife, Arabella, who has been held in a damp dungeon for fourteen years.

The sight of his suffering wife and the palpable gratitude of the prisoners he releases shatter the Sultan’s defensive wall of pride. He is forced to confront the reality that his power has brought only misery to those who should have been closest to him. His transformation is immediate and total; he casts aside his mask of authority, experiences the raw sting of remorse, and pledges to rule with justice rather than fear. The play concludes with the liberation of the prisoners, including the humbled Twineall, who has learned that his art of empty flattery is a dangerous game. The Sultan is reunited with Arabella, and Haswell, having fulfilled his mission, stands as the catalyst who proved that even the hardest heart can be softened by a genuine encounter with human sorrow.

How It Unfolds

The social trap The play opens in the tense, status-obsessed household of Sir Luke Tremor. We are introduced to Twineall, a social climber who treats flattery as a precise science, and Lady Tremor, who is deeply concerned with the prestige of her ancestry.

The mission of mercy Haswell arrives, shifting the tone from domestic comedy to serious moral inquiry. He navigates the fears of the court, where men like Lord Flint use suspicion as a weapon to maintain their own precarious power.

The descent into darkness Haswell visits the prisons, where the play’s emotional weight truly settles. He encounters Elvirus, a young man willing to sacrifice his own life to secure his father’s release, and Zedan, a prisoner whose initial urge to steal is replaced by a dawning sense of human connection.

The challenge to power Haswell successfully manipulates the Sultan into keeping a promise that the ruler deeply regrets. By forcing the Sultan to face the reality of his own dungeons, Haswell creates a space where the monarch can no longer hide behind statecraft.

The confrontation with truth In the final act, the Sultan is brought face-to-face with the wife he abandoned and the victims of his paranoia. The revelation of his own cruelty causes a total breakdown of his composure, leading to a profound, public transformation.

The resolution of justice The prisoners are set free, and the social climbers are forced to reckon with their own insignificance. The play ends not with a grand political shift, but with a restoration of human relationships and a quiet commitment to kindness.

The People

Haswell is the moral anchor of the play. Driven by an innate sense of duty, he remains indifferent to the political machinations around him, focusing entirely on the "sorrows of the prisoner." He is both a physician of the body and a physician of the soul, willing to challenge a Sultan to save a life.

The Sultan begins as a symbol of arbitrary, terrified authority. He is a man who has traded his humanity for the security of a throne, convinced that he must be a tyrant to survive. By the end, he is stripped of his royal pretenses, forced to accept the consequences of his actions, and emerges as a man capable of genuine contrition.

Twineall serves as the play’s primary satiric target. He is a "consequential" man whose survival depends on his ability to mirror the prejudices of others. He believes his "science" of flattery makes him indispensable, but he eventually learns that his lack of conviction makes him a target for the very state he tries to appease.

Sir Luke Tremor and Lady Tremor are the comic relief, representing the petty, often absurd concerns of the colonial class. Sir Luke is a man who would rather be comfortable than correct, always looking for a way to avoid taking a stand, while Lady Tremor is defined by her fragile ego and obsession with pedigree. Both serve to highlight the contrast between the triviality of social life and the life-and-death stakes of the political regime.

In Its Own Voice

Haswell articulates his belief that the Sultan’s cruelties are born of a diseased mind rather than inherent malice:

"Involved in deeds, in cruelties, which your better thoughts revolt at, the meanest wretch your camps or prisons hold, claims not half the compassion you have excited."

Later, the Sultan, finally confronted by the depth of his own failures, describes his internal collapse:

"Oh! do not bring me to a trial which I have not courage to support."

What It's Really About

At its heart, the play is a vigorous argument against the dehumanization of the vulnerable. It interrogates the nature of power, suggesting that absolute authority is a trap that ultimately isolates the ruler from truth. By placing the "science" of flattery alongside the "science" of prison reform, the text asks whether a society can truly be judged by its laws, or only by the treatment of those whom the law has forgotten. It posits that empathy is not merely a private virtue, but a necessary political act. The central tension is between those who view others as tools for advancement—like Twineall—and those like Haswell, who recognize in every prisoner a human life worth saving.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate classic drama that manages to balance sharp, witty social commentary with deep, earnest moral concern will find this play compelling. It is a work of genuine warmth, written at a time when the theater was a primary vehicle for political discourse. For the modern reader, the play’s exploration of "fake news" and the sycophancy of the political class—seen through the character of Twineall—feels surprisingly contemporary.

However, one should be prepared for the period-specific conventions of the stage. The dialogue is highly formal, and the plot relies on the theatrical tropes of the late eighteenth century, including dramatic fainting spells and lengthy asides. The dialect and the intense, almost melodramatic focus on "sentiment" may feel distant to those accustomed to modern realism. Yet, beneath these stylistic layers, the play offers a rewarding, unpretentious look at the power of human connection. What stays with you is the quiet persistence of Haswell—a figure who refuses to be cynical in a world designed to crush the spirit. It is a reminder that even within the most rigid structures of power, there is always room for a single individual to act with integrity and, in doing so, force the world to take a better look at itself.