Original: I pray thee, bear my former answer back:
Modern: Please, take back the same answer I gave before:

Original: Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
Modern: Tell them they’ll have to defeat and kill me before they can collect any ransom.

Original: Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus?
Modern: My God! Why should they insult my struggling men like this?

Original: The man that once did sell the lion’s skin
Modern: The man who once tried to sell a lion’s skin

Original: While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
Modern: While the lion was still alive was killed while trying to hunt it.

Original: A many of our bodies shall no doubt
Modern: Many of our soldiers will no doubt

Original: Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
Modern: Be buried back home in England; and on those graves, I believe,

Original: Shall witness live in brass of this day’s work:
Modern: There will be brass monuments honoring what we accomplish today:

Original: And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
Modern: And those brave soldiers who die and are buried here in France,

Original: Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
Modern: Dying courageously, even if you bury them in your garbage heaps,

Original: They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them,
Modern: They will become famous; because the sun will shine on them there,

Original: And draw their honours reeking up to heaven;
Modern: And pull their honor, like rising steam, up to heaven;

Original: Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
Modern: Leaving their rotting bodies to pollute your country,

Original: The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
Modern: And the stench will cause a plague throughout France.

Original: Mark then abounding valour in our English,
Modern: Notice the overflowing courage of us Englishmen,

Original: That being dead, like to the bullet’s grazing,
Modern: Who even when dead, like a bullet that ricochets,

Original: Break out into a second course of mischief,
Modern: Strike out on a second round of destruction,

Original: Killing in relapse of mortality.
Modern: Killing you again even after we’re dead.

Original: Let me speak proudly: tell the constable
Modern: Let me speak with pride: tell the French commander

Original: We are but warriors for the working-day;
Modern: We’re just everyday working soldiers;

Original: Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch’d
Modern: Our bright colors and shiny armor are all covered in mud

Original: With rainy marching in the painful field;
Modern: From marching through the rain on this miserable battlefield;

Original: There’s not a piece of feather in our host—
Modern: There’s not a single decorative plume among our troops—

Original: Good argument, I hope, we will not fly—
Modern: Good proof, I hope, that we won’t run away—

Original: And time hath worn us into slovenry:
Modern: And our long campaign has left us looking like slovenly beggars:

Original: But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim;
Modern: But, I swear by the mass, our spirits are in fighting shape;

Original: And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
Modern: And my worn-out soldiers tell me that before tonight

Original: They’ll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck
Modern: They’ll either be wearing fresh clothes in heaven, or they’ll strip

Original: The gay new coats o’er the French soldiers’ heads
Modern: The fancy new uniforms right off the French soldiers’ backs

Original: And turn them out of service. If they do this,—
Modern: And put them out of action. If they do this—

Original: As, if God please, they shall,—my ransom then
Modern: And, God willing, they will—then my ransom

Original: Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;
Modern: Will quickly be paid. Herald, save yourself the trouble;

Original: Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald:
Modern: Don’t come back anymore asking for ransom, kind herald:

Original: They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;
Modern: They’ll get nothing from me, I swear, except my body parts;

Original: Which if they have as I will leave ‘em them,
Modern: And if they get those in the condition I plan to leave them,

Original: Shall yield them little, tell the constable.
Modern: They won’t be worth much, tell the commander.

In Act IV, Scene iii of Henry V, the English forces are encamped at Agincourt on the eve of battle, facing a vastly superior French army. Westmoreland expresses his wish that they had more men to fight with, prompting King Henry to deliver his response. Henry refuses the sentiment, declaring that he would not want one man more than they currently have. He insists that if any soldier has no stomach for the fight, he should be given his passport and money to return home, as Henry has no desire to die in the company of men who fear death alongside him. He frames the coming battle as an opportunity for honor, declaring that the fewer men they have, the greater share of honor each man will earn.

Henry then turns to the date itself, noting that the feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispian falls on October 25th, the very day of the battle. He proclaims that any man who survives this day will remember it with pride for the rest of his life, and that those who shed their blood alongside him will become his brothers in arms. He envisions these men growing old and recounting their deeds on this day to their neighbors and children, proudly showing their wounds. Henry concludes by declaring that the men presently with him, no matter how humble their birth, will be ennobled by their participation in this battle, and that Englishmen who were not present will count themselves lesser men for having missed it.

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.