Original: Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Modern: One more time into the gap in the wall, my dear friends, one more time;

Original: Or close the wall up with our English dead.
Modern: Or we’ll fill up that gap with our English bodies.

Original: In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
Modern: In peacetime there’s nothing that suits a man better

Original: As modest stillness and humility:
Modern: Than quiet calmness and humility:

Original: But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Modern: But when the trumpet call of war sounds around us,

Original: Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Modern: Then copy the behavior of a tiger;

Original: Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Modern: Tense your muscles, get your blood pumping,

Original: Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;
Modern: Hide your gentle nature with fierce, harsh anger;

Original: Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Modern: Then make your eyes look terrifying;

Original: Let pry through the portage of the head
Modern: Let them peer out through the openings of your face

Original: Like the brass cannon; let the brow o’erwhelm it
Modern: Like brass cannons; let your eyebrows hang over them

Original: As fearfully as doth a galled rock
Modern: As frighteningly as a worn-away cliff

Original: O’erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Modern: Hangs over and juts out from its battered base,

Original: Swill’d with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Modern: Washed by the wild and destructive ocean.

Original: Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Modern: Now clench your teeth and flare your nostrils wide,

Original: Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
Modern: Hold your breath tight and raise up every bit of courage

Original: To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Modern: To its maximum strength. Forward, forward, you noblest Englishmen.

Original: Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Modern: Whose bloodline comes from fathers proven in battle!

Original: Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Modern: Fathers who, like many Alexander the Greats,

Original: Have in these parts from morn till even fought
Modern: Have fought in these lands from morning until evening

Original: And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Modern: And put away their swords only because they ran out of enemies to fight:

Original: Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
Modern: Don’t dishonor your mothers; now prove

Original: That those whom you call’d fathers did beget you.
Modern: That the men you called fathers really are your fathers.

Original: Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
Modern: Be an example now to men of lower birth,

Original: And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Modern: And teach them how to fight. And you, good common soldiers,

Original: Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
Modern: Whose bodies were born in England, show us here

Original: The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
Modern: The quality of the land that raised you; let us declare

Original: That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
Modern: That you are worthy of your upbringing; which I don’t doubt;

Original: For there is none of you so mean and base,
Modern: For there is not one of you so lowly and common,

Original: That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
Modern: That doesn’t have a noble fire in your eyes.

Original: I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Modern: I see you standing like greyhounds held on leashes,

Original: Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Modern: Straining to begin the race. The hunt has begun:

Original: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Modern: Follow your courage, and in this attack

Original: Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’
Modern: Shout ‘God for King Harry, England, and Saint George!’

Act III, Scene i of Henry V takes place on the battlefield outside the walls of Harfleur, France. King Henry V rallies his troops as they prepare to attack the breach in the town’s walls. He delivers a rousing speech urging his soldiers to summon their courage and fight with ferocity, calling on them to imitate the action of a tiger and stiffen their sinews. Henry invokes the memory of their noble English fathers and ancestors, reminding the soldiers of the warrior blood that runs through their veins. He addresses not only the nobles and men of higher birth but also the common soldiers, whom he calls the good yeomen of England, encouraging every man regardless of rank to rise to the occasion and demonstrate his worth on the battlefield.

Henry closes his speech by calling on his men to dishonor their mothers if they do not prove themselves worthy of their fathers’ legacy, and he urges them to show their teeth and stretch their nostrils wide as they charge into the breach. He ends with the famous rallying cry, urging his soldiers to follow him once more into the breach or close up the walls with their English dead. The scene is brief but intense, consisting almost entirely of Henry’s speech, which serves to ignite the fighting spirit of his army before the assault on Harfleur continues. The soldiers are then led forward into battle, with Henry himself charging at their head as the scene concludes.

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.