O'Flaherty V.C‪.‬

George Bernard Shaw's O'Flaherty V.C. is a sharp wartime satire that skewers patriotism, recruiting propaganda, and the absurd theater of heroism in Ireland during World War I. With biting wit, Shaw argues that men enlist not only from duty, but from boredom, resentment, ambition, and even the wish for a brief escape from domestic tyranny. The result is both a political comedy and a sly challenge to the slogans that glorify war. Set in 1916 at an Irish country house, the play follows decorated Private O'Flaherty as he returns from the front to the estate of General Sir Pearce Madigan. Their exchanges expose the gap between imperial confidence and Irish skepticism, while O'Flaherty's blunt honesty dismantles official lies about sacrifice, honor, and national glory. He reveals that he has been pretending to fight against the English to spare his nationalist mother's feelings, and that her harsh discipline helped make him brave. When Mrs. O'Flaherty arrives, family pride, politics, religion, money, and class resentments erupt in comic conflict. Flirtation with Teresa, arguments over pensions and allowances, and Dinny's plan to leave Ireland for France all deepen the play's satire of empire, family loyalty, and the strange, stubborn motives that send ordinary people to war. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.