# Sir Pearce Madigan — Short Plays character guide

> Sir Pearce Madigan in Short Plays by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sir Pearce Laughing, Sir Pearce, Sir Pearce Rising, Sir Pearce Unable, Sir Pearce Huffed, Sir Pearce Touched, Sir Pearce Scandalized, Sir Pearce Really, Sir Pearce Running, Sir Pearce Exhausted, Sir Pearce Warmly, Sir Pearce Silence, General Sir Pearce Madigan, General Madigan

**First appearance:** 0050-o-flaherty-v-c

## Snapshot

A genial Anglo-Irish general and baronet, Sir Pearce wants to be proud of his decorated tenant-soldier but keeps getting his own comfortable assumptions handed back to him.

## Who they are

Sir Pearce is the local landlord and a British general, delighted to host the famous O'Flaherty V.C. on leave and to hear his own recruiting rhetoric echoed back as gratitude. What he gets instead is O'Flaherty's cheerful confession that he poached the General's rabbits, milked his cows, and was raised by a Fenian mother who prays for England's expulsion. Sir Pearce's pained, well-meaning shock carries the play's argument about Irish loyalty, class, and the gap between the recruiting poster and the man it recruits.

## Relationships

### [O'Flaherty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_plays_se/characters/o_flaherty)

_rivalry_

O'Flaherty and Sir Pearce Madigan are enemies, representing Irish nationalist versus British colonial authority.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_plays_se/characters/sir_pearce_madigan
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