Original: ‘Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold,
Modern: ‘Jockey of Norfolk, don’t be too confident,

Original: For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.’
Modern: Because Dickon, your master, has been betrayed.’

Original: A thing devised by the enemy.
Modern: This is just a trick created by the enemy.

Original: Go, gentleman, every man unto his charge
Modern: Go, gentlemen, every man to his position

Original: Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls:
Modern: Don’t let our foolish dreams frighten us:

Original: Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Modern: Conscience is just a word that cowards use,

Original: Devised at first to keep the strong in awe:
Modern: Invented to keep strong people under control:

Original: Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.
Modern: Our powerful weapons will be our conscience, our swords our law.

Original: March on, join bravely, let us to’t pell-mell
Modern: March forward, unite courageously, let’s attack with total chaos

Original: If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.
Modern: If we don’t go to heaven, then we’ll go together to hell.

Original: What shall I say more than I have inferr’d?
Modern: What more can I say than what I’ve already suggested?

Original: Remember whom you are to cope withal;
Modern: Remember who you’re about to fight against;

Original: A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
Modern: A bunch of homeless people, criminals, and deserters,

Original: A scum of Bretons, and base lackey peasants,
Modern: The scum of Brittany, and lowly servant peasants,

Original: Whom their o’er-cloyed country vomits forth
Modern: Who their own disgusted country spits out

Original: To desperate ventures and assured destruction.
Modern: Into desperate risks and certain death.

Original: You sleeping safe, they bring to you unrest;
Modern: While you sleep safely, they bring you trouble;

Original: You having lands, and blest with beauteous wives,
Modern: You who have property and are blessed with beautiful wives,

Original: They would restrain the one, distain the other.
Modern: They would take away your land and dishonor your wives.

Original: And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow,
Modern: And who leads them but a worthless man,

Original: Long kept in Bretagne at our mother’s cost?
Modern: Who lived for years in Brittany at our mother country’s expense?

Original: A milk-sop, one that never in his life
Modern: A weakling, someone who has never in his life

Original: Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?
Modern: Experienced anything as cold as getting his shoes wet in snow?

Original: Let’s whip these stragglers o’er the seas again;
Modern: Let’s drive these wanderers back across the sea;

Original: Lash hence these overweening rags of France,
Modern: Whip away these arrogant beggars from France,

Original: These famish’d beggars, weary of their lives;
Modern: These starving beggars, tired of their own lives;

Original: Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
Modern: Who, except for fantasizing about this foolish adventure,

Original: For want of means, poor rats, had hang’d themselves:
Modern: Because they’re so poor, these rats would have hanged themselves:

Original: If we be conquer’d, let men conquer us,
Modern: If we must be defeated, let real men defeat us,

Original: And not these bastard Bretons; whom our fathers
Modern: And not these illegitimate Bretons; whom our fathers

Original: Have in their own land beaten, bobb’d, and thump’d,
Modern: Have already beaten, hit, and pounded in their own land,

Original: And in record, left them the heirs of shame.
Modern: And left them with a legacy of humiliation in the history books.

Original: Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives?
Modern: Should these people possess our lands? Sleep with our wives?

Original: Ravish our daughters?
Modern: Rape our daughters?

Original: Hark! I hear their drum.
Modern: Listen! I hear their drum.

Original: Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yoemen!
Modern: Fight, gentlemen of England! Fight, brave commoners!

Original: Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Modern: Pull back, archers, pull your arrows all the way back!

Original: Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
Modern: Kick your noble horses hard, and ride through the bloodshed;

Original: Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!
Modern: Shock the heavens with your shattered lances!

Richard III opens with Richard, Duke of Gloucester, revealing his villainous intentions to claim the throne of England. Despite his physical deformities, he is determined to remove all obstacles to his coronation. He begins by manipulating his brother Clarence into imprisonment and death, convincing King Edward IV that Clarence poses a threat. Richard also courts Lady Anne, widow of Prince Edward (whom Richard killed), successfully wooing her despite having murdered both her husband and father-in-law. When King Edward IV dies, Richard is named Lord Protector for the young Prince Edward, heir to the throne.

Richard systematically eliminates his rivals and supporters of the rightful heirs. He has Lord Hastings executed for opposing his claim to the throne, and convinces the Duke of Buckingham to help him secure power. Richard and Buckingham spread rumors about the legitimacy of Edward IV’s children, claiming they are bastards. They stage a public scene where Richard reluctantly accepts the crown after appearing to refuse it. Once crowned King Richard III, he orders the murder of the two young princes (Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York) in the Tower of London, though their deaths occur offstage.

Richard’s reign becomes increasingly tyrannical and unstable. The Duke of Buckingham eventually rebels against him and is captured and executed. Richard attempts to consolidate power by proposing to marry Elizabeth of York, his niece, but faces growing opposition. Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, lands in England with an army to claim the throne. The play culminates in the Battle of Bosworth Field, where Richard is haunted by the ghosts of all those he has murdered. Richmond defeats and kills Richard in battle, then marries Elizabeth of York to unite the warring houses of Lancaster and York, establishing the Tudor dynasty and bringing peace to England.