Original: God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.
Modern: May God repay you with his mercy! Now hear your punishment.

Original: You have conspired against our royal person,
Modern: You have plotted against me, your king,

Original: Join’d with an enemy proclaim’d and from his coffers
Modern: Joined forces with a declared enemy and from his treasury

Original: Received the golden earnest of our death;
Modern: Received gold as a down payment for my murder;

Original: Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,
Modern: In doing this, you would have sold your king to be killed,

Original: His princes and his peers to servitude,
Modern: His noblemen and lords to slavery,

Original: His subjects to oppression and contempt
Modern: His people to cruelty and disgrace

Original: And his whole kingdom into desolation.
Modern: And his entire kingdom to destruction.

Original: Touching our person seek we no revenge;
Modern: Regarding what you’ve done to me personally, I seek no revenge;

Original: But we our kingdom’s safety must so tender,
Modern: But I must care so much for our kingdom’s safety,

Original: Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws
Modern: Which you tried to destroy, that I must turn you over to its laws

Original: We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Modern: For judgment. So go from here now,

Original: Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
Modern: You poor, pathetic traitors, to your execution:

Original: The taste whereof, God of his mercy give
Modern: May God in his mercy give you the ability

Original: You patience to endure, and true repentance
Modern: To endure it patiently, and feel true regret

Original: Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.
Modern: For all your serious crimes! Take them away.

Original: Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
Modern: Now, lords, onward to France; this mission

Original: Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
Modern: Will be equally glorious for you as for me.

Original: We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,
Modern: I have no doubt we’ll have a good and fortunate war,

Original: Since God so graciously hath brought to light
Modern: Since God has so graciously revealed

Original: This dangerous treason lurking in our way
Modern: This dangerous betrayal that was hiding in our path

Original: To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now
Modern: Ready to stop us before we even started. I don’t doubt now

Original: But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Modern: That every obstacle has been cleared from our path.

Original: Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver
Modern: So forward, dear countrymen: let us place

Original: Our puissance into the hand of God,
Modern: Our military power into the hand of God,

Original: Putting it straight in expedition.
Modern: Setting it immediately into action.

Original: Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:
Modern: Cheerfully to the sea; raise the battle flags:

Original: No king of England, if not king of France.
Modern: I’m no king of England if I don’t become king of France.

In Act II, Scene 2 of “Henry V,” King Henry confronts three conspirators—the Earl of Cambridge, Lord Scroop, and Sir Thomas Grey—who have plotted to assassinate him before his departure for France. The scene takes place in Southampton, where Henry has gathered his nobles ostensibly to discuss their impending military campaign. Henry cunningly tests the conspirators by asking their counsel regarding a man who railed against him while drunk, and they all argue for severe punishment. Henry then reveals he has pardoned the man, noting mercy’s virtue, while simultaneously exposing their own treasonous plot through documents he presents to them.

Upon being discovered, each conspirator confesses his guilt, with Scroop’s betrayal particularly wounding Henry since they were close friends. The king delivers a lengthy rebuke, especially condemning Scroop for his personal disloyalty and noting how the conspirators were bribed by French gold to murder him. Henry orders their immediate arrest and execution, declaring that their treachery has actually strengthened his resolve and confidence in the righteousness of his French campaign. The scene concludes with Henry commanding his forces to prepare for embarkation, proclaiming that God’s hand has revealed this plot and that England’s cause is just as they set forth for France.

Henry V follows the young English king as he transforms from the wayward Prince Hal into a decisive military leader. The play opens with Henry’s court debating his claim to the French throne through his great-great-grandmother’s lineage. When the French Dauphin mockingly sends Henry tennis balls as a gift, suggesting he should stick to games rather than warfare, Henry uses this insult as justification to invade France. He sentences three conspirators - Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey - to death for plotting against his life, then sets sail for France with his army.

The English forces land in France and lay siege to Harfleur, which Henry captures after his famous “Once more unto the breach” speech. However, his army is weakened by disease and casualties. Meanwhile, we follow the tavern companions from Henry’s youth - Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, and Hostess Quickly, who reports the death of Falstaff. The English army, vastly outnumbered, faces the French at Agincourt. On the eve of battle, Henry disguises himself and walks among his soldiers to gauge their morale, engaging in philosophical discussions about kingship and responsibility.

The Battle of Agincourt proves to be a decisive English victory despite overwhelming French numerical superiority. Henry orders the killing of French prisoners when he believes the French are regrouping, and becomes enraged when he discovers French forces have killed the English boys guarding the baggage train. The English suffer minimal casualties while French losses are enormous. The play concludes with Henry’s courtship of Princess Katherine of France, conducted partly in broken French and English. Their marriage seals the Treaty of Troyes, which names Henry as heir to the French throne, though the Chorus epilogue reminds the audience that Henry’s son would later lose these French territories.