Original: Sirs, stand apart; the king shall know your mind.
Modern: Gentlemen, step back; I’ll tell the king what you’re thinking.

Original: Dread lord, the commons send you word by me,
Modern: Your Majesty, the common people have sent me with a message for you,

Original: Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death,
Modern: Unless Lord Suffolk is immediately put to death,

Original: Or banished fair England’s territories,
Modern: Or exiled from England’s lands,

Original: They will by violence tear him from your palace
Modern: They will use force to drag him out of your palace

Original: And torture him with grievous lingering death.
Modern: And torture him with a painful, slow death.

Original: They say, by him the good Duke Humphrey died;
Modern: They say that he caused the death of the good Duke Humphrey;

Original: They say, in him they fear your highness’ death;
Modern: They say they’re afraid he’ll kill you next;

Original: And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
Modern: And it’s purely out of love and loyalty,

Original: Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
Modern: Not from any desire to stubbornly oppose you,

Original: As being thought to contradict your liking,
Modern: Or any intention to go against your wishes,

Original: Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
Modern: That makes them so insistent about banishing him.

Original: They say, in care of your most royal person,
Modern: They say, because they care about your royal safety,

Original: That if your highness should intend to sleep
Modern: That if you wanted to go to sleep

Original: And charge that no man should disturb your rest
Modern: And ordered that no one should wake you

Original: In pain of your dislike or pain of death,
Modern: Under penalty of your anger or even death,

Original: Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Modern: Yet, even with such a strict command,

Original: Were there a serpent seen, with forked tongue,
Modern: If someone saw a snake with a forked tongue

Original: That slily glided towards your majesty,
Modern: That was secretly slithering toward you,

Original: It were but necessary you were waked,
Modern: It would be necessary to wake you up,

Original: Lest, being suffer’d in that harmful slumber,
Modern: Because if you were allowed to stay asleep in that dangerous situation,

Original: The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal;
Modern: The deadly serpent might kill you in your sleep;

Original: And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
Modern: And that’s why they’re demanding, even if you’ve forbidden it,

Original: That they will guard you, whether you will or no,
Modern: That they will protect you, whether you want them to or not,

Original: From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,
Modern: From deadly snakes like the treacherous Suffolk,

Original: With whose envenomed and fatal sting,
Modern: Whose poisonous and deadly strike,

Original: Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
Modern: Your beloved uncle, who was worth twenty of him,

Original: They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
Modern: They say, was disgracefully murdered.

Henry VI, Part II opens with King Henry VI’s marriage to Margaret of Anjou, which was arranged as part of a peace treaty with France. The marriage proves politically disastrous, as Henry has agreed to surrender Maine and Anjou to France and provide no dowry, angering the English nobles. The Duke of Gloucester, Henry’s uncle and Lord Protector, opposes the marriage terms, while Cardinal Beaufort and the Duke of Suffolk, who arranged the marriage, work to undermine Gloucester’s influence. Queen Margaret quickly emerges as an ambitious figure who resents Gloucester’s power and begins plotting against him alongside Suffolk and other nobles.

The central conflict develops around the destruction of Gloucester, known as “Good Duke Humphrey.” Through a series of machinations involving his wife Eleanor’s involvement with conjurers and fortune-tellers, Gloucester is stripped of his position as Lord Protector. Eleanor is banished after being convicted of witchcraft, leaving Gloucester vulnerable. Margaret, Suffolk, Cardinal Beaufort, and others conspire to have Gloucester arrested on charges of treason. Before he can defend himself in trial, Gloucester is murdered in his bed, likely on Suffolk’s orders, shocking King Henry and the common people who loved Gloucester.

The aftermath of Gloucester’s murder destabilizes the realm further. Suffolk is banished by Henry after popular outcry against him, but he is captured and killed by pirates during his exile. Cardinal Beaufort dies tormented by guilt over Gloucester’s death. Meanwhile, Jack Cade leads a popular rebellion in Kent, claiming to be John Mortimer and demanding justice for the common people. Cade’s forces march on London, causing chaos and executing several nobles and officials before the rebellion is eventually suppressed. The play concludes with the return of Richard, Duke of York, from Ireland with an army, ostensibly to remove the remaining “traitors” around the king but actually to press his own claim to the throne, setting the stage for the Wars of the Roses that will dominate the final play in the trilogy.