Original: O, pardon me, my liege! But for my tears,
Modern: Oh, forgive me, my lord! If it weren’t for my tears,

Original: The moist impediments unto my speech,
Modern: These wet obstacles blocking my ability to speak,

Original: I had forestall’d this dear and deep rebuke
Modern: I would have prevented this painful and serious scolding

Original: Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard
Modern: Before you spoke to me in sorrow and I heard

Original: The course of it so far. There is your crown,
Modern: Any of it. Here is your crown back,

Original: And he that wears the crown immortally
Modern: And may God, who rules forever,

Original: Long guard it yours! [Kneeling] If I affect it more
Modern: Protect it as yours for a long time! If I desire it more

Original: Than as your honour and as your renown,
Modern: Than I care about your honor and your good reputation,

Original: Let me no more from this obedience rise,
Modern: Then let me never stand up from this kneeling position again,

Original: Which my most inward true and duteous spirit
Modern: Which my deepest, truest, and most loyal heart

Original: Teacheth this prostrate and exterior bending!
Modern: Inspires me to bow down like this!

Original: God witness with me, when I here came in
Modern: God is my witness, when I came into this room

Original: And found no course of breath within your Majesty,
Modern: And discovered no signs of breathing in you, your Majesty,

Original: How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,
Modern: How it chilled my heart with fear! If I’m lying,

Original: O, let me in my present wildness die,
Modern: Oh, let me die right now in my current emotional state,

Original: And never live to show th’ incredulous world
Modern: And never live long enough to show the doubting world

Original: The noble change that I have purposed!
Modern: The honorable transformation that I’ve planned for myself!

Original: Coming to look on you, thinking you dead-
Modern: When I came to look at you, thinking you were dead—

Original: And dead almost, my liege, to think you were-
Modern: And I felt almost dead myself, my lord, to think that you were—

Original: I spake unto this crown as having sense,
Modern: I spoke to this crown as if it could understand me,

Original: And thus upbraided it: ‘The care on thee depending
Modern: And I scolded it like this: ‘The worries that come with you

Original: Hath fed upon the body of my father;
Modern: Have eaten away at my father’s body;

Original: Therefore thou best of gold art worst of gold.
Modern: Therefore you, the finest gold, are actually the worst kind of gold.

Original: Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,
Modern: Other gold, of lower quality, is more valuable,

Original: Preserving life in med’cine potable;
Modern: Because it preserves life when used in drinkable medicine;

Original: But thou, most fine, most honour’d, most renown’d,
Modern: But you, the purest, most honored, most famous,

Original: Hast eat thy bearer up.’ Thus, my most royal liege,
Modern: Have devoured the person who wears you.’ So, my most royal lord,

Original: Accusing it, I put it on my head,
Modern: While blaming it, I placed it on my head,

Original: To try with it—as with an enemy
Modern: To struggle with it—as if it were an enemy

Original: That had before my face murd’red my father—
Modern: That had murdered my father right in front of me—

Original: The quarrel of a true inheritor.
Modern: To fight the battle of the rightful heir.

Original: But if it did infect my blood with joy,
Modern: But if putting it on filled my blood with happiness,

Original: Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;
Modern: Or inflated my thoughts with any hint of pride;

Original: If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Modern: If any disobedient or conceited part of me

Original: Did with the least affection of a welcome
Modern: Welcomed it with even the slightest bit of pleasure

Original: Give entertainment to the might of it,
Modern: Or embraced the power that comes with it,

Original: Let God for ever keep it from my head,
Modern: Then let God keep it away from my head forever,

Original: And make me as the poorest vassal is,
Modern: And reduce me to being like the poorest servant,

Original: That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
Modern: Who kneels before it with fear and dread!

In Act IV, Scene 5 of Henry IV Part 2, King Henry IV lies gravely ill in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster. The Duke of Clarence, Duke of Gloucester, and Earl of Warwick attend the dying king, discussing his condition and the realm’s troubled state. Prince Hal arrives and observes his father, who appears to have died. Believing the king has passed away, Hal takes the crown from his father’s pillow and exits with it, contemplating the heavy burden of kingship that now falls to him.

King Henry IV awakens to find his crown missing and calls for his attendants. When told that Prince Hal took the crown, the king is deeply wounded, interpreting this act as eagerness for his death and confirmation of his fears about his son’s unfitness to rule. Hal returns and kneels before his father, explaining that he took the crown believing his father had died, and that he spoke to it as his enemy, knowing the troubles it would bring. The king, moved by his son’s explanation and evident maturity, forgives him and offers final counsel about kingship, advising Hal to unite the realm through foreign wars to prevent civil strife. The scene concludes with the king’s death and Hal’s ascension as Henry V.

Henry IV, Part Two - Summary of Events

The play opens with Rumour spreading false news that Hotspur has defeated King Henry IV at Shrewsbury. Northumberland soon learns the truth: his son Hotspur is dead, and the rebellion has failed. Despite his grief and calls from his allies to continue the fight, Northumberland eventually flees to Scotland. Meanwhile, the rebel leaders—the Archbishop of York, Lord Mowbray, and Lord Hastings—gather forces for a new uprising against the King.

Prince Hal continues his time in the taverns of Eastcheap with Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, and his companions. Falstaff, deep in debt and pursued by the Hostess for unpaid bills, manipulates his way out of trouble and is eventually called to join the King’s forces. The King himself is gravely ill and troubled by insomnia, burdened by guilt over how he obtained the crown. He laments that Hal remains irresponsible and fears for England’s future under his son’s rule.

In Gaultree Forest, Prince John of Lancaster meets with the rebels under a flag of truce. He promises to address their grievances, and the rebel leaders dismiss their armies. Once the rebel forces disperse, Prince John arrests the leaders for treason and orders their execution. When the dying King Henry hears of this victory and later finds Hal with the crown at his bedside (believing him dead, Hal had taken it), father and son reconcile. Henry dies, and Hal becomes King Henry V.

As the new king, Henry V publicly rejects Falstaff, who arrives expecting rewards and favor. The King banishes his former companion from his presence, promises him support at a distance, but makes clear their relationship is over. The Lord Chief Justice is retained in his position, and the new king prepares to rule England. The epilogue promises that the story will continue with Henry V’s wars in France and hints that Falstaff will appear again.