Original: How should I your true-love know
Modern: How would I recognize your true love

Original: From another one?
Modern: From someone else?

Original: By his cockle hat and’ staff
Modern: By his pilgrim’s hat and walking stick

Original: And his sandal shoon.
Modern: And his sandals on his feet.

Original: Say you? Nay, pray You mark.
Modern: What did you say? No, please listen to me.

Original: He is dead and gone, lady,
Modern: He is dead and gone, my lady,

Original: He is dead and gone;
Modern: He is dead and gone;

Original: At his head a grass-green turf,
Modern: At his head there’s green grass,

Original: At his heels a stone.
Modern: At his feet there’s a gravestone.

Original: O, ho!
Modern: Oh, yes!

Original: Pray you mark.
Modern: Please listen to me.

Original: White his shroud as the mountain snow-
Modern: His burial cloth is as white as mountain snow-

Original: Larded all with sweet flowers;
Modern: Decorated all over with sweet flowers;

Original: Which bewept to the grave did not go
Modern: Which didn’t go to the grave with tears

Original: With true-love showers.
Modern: With showers of true love’s tears.

Original: Well, God dild you! They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.
Modern: Well, God reward you! They say the owl used to be a baker’s daughter.

Original: Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table!
Modern: Lord, we know what we are now, but we don’t know what we might become. God bless your meals!

Original: Pray let’s have no words of this; but when they ask, you what it means, say you this:
Modern: Please, let’s not talk about this; but when they ask you what it means, tell them this:

Original: To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
Modern: Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day,

Original: All in the morning bedtime,
Modern: Early in the morning,

Original: And I a maid at your window,
Modern: And I’m a young woman at your window,

Original: To be your Valentine.
Modern: To be your Valentine.

Original: Then up he rose and donn’d his clo’es
Modern: Then he got up and put on his clothes

Original: And dupp’d the chamber door,
Modern: And opened his bedroom door,

Original: Let in the maid, that out a maid
Modern: Let in the girl, who as a virgin

Original: Never departed more.
Modern: Never left again.

Original: Indeed, la, without an oath, I’ll make an end on’t!
Modern: Yes indeed, I swear I’ll finish this story!

Original: By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Modern: By Jesus and by Saint Charity,

Original: Alack, and fie for shame!
Modern: Oh no, shame on him!

Original: Young men will do’t if they come to’t
Modern: Young men will have sex if they get the chance

Original: By Cock, they are to blame.
Modern: By God, they are the ones to blame.

Original: Quoth she, ‘Before you tumbled me,
Modern: She said, ‘Before you slept with me,

Original: You promis’d me to wed.’
Modern: You promised to marry me.’

Original: He answers:
Modern: He answers:

Original: ‘So would I ‘a’ done, by yonder sun,
Modern: ‘I would have done so, I swear by the sun,

Original: An thou hadst not come to my bed.’
Modern: If you hadn’t come to my bed first.’

Original: I hope all will be well. We must be patient; but I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him i’ th’ cold ground.
Modern: I hope everything will be okay. We must be patient; but I can’t help crying when I think they put him in the cold ground.

Original: My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet ladies. Good night, good night.
Modern: My brother will find out about this; so I thank you for your good advice. Come, my carriage! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet ladies. Good night, good night.

In Act IV, Scene 5 of Hamlet, Gertrude initially refuses to speak with Ophelia, who has been seeking an audience while in a state of distress. A gentleman reports that Ophelia speaks incoherently about her father, and her fragmented words, though unclear, seem to carry troubling implications that are causing unrest among the people. Horatio advises that it would be wise to speak with her before she spreads dangerous rumors. When Ophelia enters, she appears mad, singing strange songs about death, lost love, and betrayal. Her songs reference a dead man who cannot return and a maiden who loses her virginity, which deeply disturbs Gertrude and Claudius when he arrives.

The scene continues with Ophelia distributing imaginary flowers while speaking cryptically about remembrance, thoughts, and rue. After she exits, Claudius explains to Gertrude that Ophelia’s madness stems from her father Polonius’s death, and he reveals that Laertes has secretly returned from France with a group of followers who are calling him lord and demanding answers about his father’s death. A messenger then announces that Laertes has forcibly entered the castle with his supporters. Laertes bursts in, demanding to know what happened to Polonius, and threatens Claudius. When Claudius asks what Laertes would do to prove himself his father’s son, Laertes declares he would cut Hamlet’s throat in the church. Ophelia returns in her mad state, and upon seeing her condition, Laertes becomes even more enraged and vows revenge for both his father’s death and his sister’s madness.

Hamlet tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father. The ghost reveals that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has now married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude and assumed the throne. Commanded by his father’s spirit to seek revenge, Hamlet struggles with doubt, melancholy, and the moral complexity of his task. To investigate the ghost’s claims and plan his revenge, he feigns madness, which creates tension throughout the Danish court.

As Hamlet deliberates, his erratic behavior affects everyone around him, particularly his love interest Ophelia, daughter of the king’s advisor Polonius. To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet stages a play mirroring his father’s murder, which confirms the king’s culpability. However, Hamlet’s actions become increasingly destructive—he accidentally kills Polonius while the old man spies on him, and his rejection of Ophelia contributes to her descent into genuine madness and eventual drowning.

The play reaches its climax when Ophelia’s brother Laertes returns to avenge his father’s death. Claudius manipulates Laertes into challenging Hamlet to a duel, secretly poisoning Laertes’s sword and preparing poisoned wine as backup. The final scene erupts in tragedy: during the duel, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the poisoned blade, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poisoned wine, and Hamlet finally kills Claudius. As Hamlet dies, he names Prince Fortinbras of Norway as Denmark’s next ruler, bringing the cycle of revenge and political instability to a close. The play ends with Fortinbras restoring order to the Danish court as bodies are carried off in a funeral march.