Original: Have I not hideous death within my view,
Modern: Don’t I have a horrible death staring me in the face,

Original: Retaining but a quantity of life,
Modern: Holding onto just a small amount of life,

Original: Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Modern: Which is draining away, just like a wax figure

Original: Resolveth from his figure ‘gainst the fire?
Modern: Melts and loses its shape when placed near a fire?

Original: What in the world should make me now deceive,
Modern: What reason in the world would I have to lie now,

Original: Since I must lose the use of all deceit?
Modern: Since I won’t have any more chances to deceive anyone?

Original: Why should I then be false, since it is true
Modern: Why would I lie, when it’s true

Original: That I must die here and live hence by truth?
Modern: That I’m going to die here and can only live on in the afterlife through honesty?

Original: I say again, if Lewis do win the day,
Modern: I’m telling you again, if Lewis wins the battle,

Original: He is forsworn, if e’er those eyes of yours
Modern: He has broken his promise, and if your eyes

Original: Behold another day break in the east:
Modern: Ever see another sunrise:

Original: But even this night, whose black contagious breath
Modern: This very night, whose dark poisonous air

Original: Already smokes about the burning crest
Modern: Is already gathering like smoke around the glowing head

Original: Of the old, feeble and day-wearied sun,
Modern: Of the old, weak, and tired sun,

Original: Even this ill night, your breathing shall expire,
Modern: This very evil night, you will breathe your last,

Original: Paying the fine of rated treachery
Modern: Paying the penalty for your deliberate betrayal

Original: Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives,
Modern: With the terrible price of all your lives,

Original: If Lewis by your assistance win the day.
Modern: If Lewis wins the battle with your help.

Original: Commend me to one Hubert with your king:
Modern: Give my regards to a man named Hubert and to your king:

Original: The love of him, and this respect besides,
Modern: My affection for him, and this reason as well,

Original: For that my grandsire was an Englishman,
Modern: That my grandfather was an Englishman,

Original: Awakes my conscience to confess all this.
Modern: Stirs my conscience to reveal all of this to you.

Original: In lieu whereof, I pray you, bear me hence
Modern: In return for this, I beg you, carry me away

Original: From forth the noise and rumour of the field,
Modern: From the noise and chaos of the battlefield,

Original: Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts
Modern: To a place where I can think my final thoughts

Original: In peace, and part this body and my soul
Modern: In peace, and separate my body from my soul

Original: With contemplation and devout desires.
Modern: With meditation and holy prayers.

King John opens with King Philip of France supporting Arthur, the young son of John’s deceased brother Geoffrey, as the rightful heir to the English throne. John’s mother, Queen Eleanor, and the French court engage in heated disputes over legitimacy. Meanwhile, the Bastard (Philip Faulconbridge), illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart, joins John’s cause after being legitimized. War breaks out between England and France, with the strategic town of Angiers caught between the two armies.

The conflict temporarily resolves when John’s niece Blanche marries the French Dauphin Lewis, uniting the two kingdoms. However, Cardinal Pandulph arrives from Rome and excommunicates John for refusing to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. The Cardinal persuades France to break the peace and resume war against the excommunicated English king. In the ensuing battle, Arthur is captured by John’s forces.

John orders Hubert to kill the young Arthur, but Hubert cannot bring himself to murder the child and instead hides him. When Arthur later dies attempting to escape from his prison tower, the English nobles believe John has murdered him and defect to join the invading French forces led by the Dauphin. As John faces rebellion from within and invasion from without, he submits to the Pope’s authority to regain legitimacy. However, he falls ill and is poisoned by a monk at Swinstead Abbey.

The Bastard rallies the remaining English forces and discovers that the French nobles plan to kill their English allies after victory. This intelligence helps reconcile the English lords to their king. John dies, and his young son Henry is crowned King Henry III. The Dauphin withdraws his forces, and Cardinal Pandulph negotiates peace. The play concludes with the Bastard delivering a patriotic speech about England’s strength when united against foreign threats.