Original: It was my deer; and he that wounded her
Modern: She was my precious daughter; and whoever hurt her

Original: Hath hurt me more than had he killed me dead:
Modern: Has wounded me more deeply than if he had killed me outright:

Original: For now I stand as one upon a rock
Modern: Because now I feel like someone standing on a rock

Original: Environed with a wilderness of sea,
Modern: Surrounded by an endless ocean,

Original: Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave,
Modern: Who watches the rising tide build wave by wave,

Original: Expecting ever when some envious surge
Modern: Always expecting that some cruel wave

Original: Will in his brinish bowels swallow him.
Modern: Will swallow him up in its salty depths.

Original: This way to death my wretched sons are gone;
Modern: My miserable sons have gone to their deaths this way;

Original: Here stands my other son, a banished man,
Modern: Here stands my other son, exiled from his home,

Original: And here my brother, weeping at my woes.
Modern: And here is my brother, crying over my troubles.

Original: But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn,
Modern: But what kicks my soul the hardest,

Original: Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.
Modern: Is beloved Lavinia, more precious to me than my own life.

Original: Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,
Modern: If I had only seen a painting of you in this condition,

Original: It would have madded me: what shall I do
Modern: It would have driven me insane: what should I do

Original: Now I behold thy lively body so?
Modern: Now that I see your living body like this?

Original: Thou hast no hands, to wipe away thy tears:
Modern: You have no hands to wipe away your tears:

Original: Nor tongue, to tell me who hath martyr’d thee:
Modern: No tongue to tell me who has tortured you like this:

Original: Thy husband he is dead: and for his death
Modern: Your husband is dead: and because of his death

Original: Thy brothers are condemn’d, and dead by this.
Modern: Your brothers have been sentenced and are dead by now.

Original: Look, Marcus! ah, son Lucius, look on her!
Modern: Look, Marcus! Oh, son Lucius, look at her!

Original: When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears
Modern: When I mentioned her brothers, fresh tears

Original: Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew
Modern: Appeared on her cheeks, like morning dew

Original: Upon a gather’d lily almost wither’d.
Modern: On a picked lily that’s almost dead.

Original: If they did kill thy husband, then be joyful
Modern: If they did kill your husband, then be happy

Original: Because the law hath ta’en revenge on them.
Modern: Because the law has gotten revenge on them.

Original: No, no, they would not do so foul a deed;
Modern: No, no, they wouldn’t commit such a horrible crime;

Original: Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.
Modern: Just look at the grief their sister shows.

Original: Gentle Lavinia, let me kiss thy lips.
Modern: Sweet Lavinia, let me kiss your lips.

Original: Or make some sign how I may do thee ease:
Modern: Or give me some sign of how I can comfort you:

Original: Shall thy good uncle, and thy brother Lucius,
Modern: Should your good uncle, and your brother Lucius,

Original: And thou, and I, sit round about some fountain,
Modern: And you, and I, sit around some fountain,

Original: Looking all downwards to behold our cheeks
Modern: All looking down to see our faces

Original: How they are stain’d, as meadows, yet not dry,
Modern: How they are stained with tears, like fields that aren’t yet dry,

Original: With miry slime left on them by a flood?
Modern: With muddy slime left behind by a flood?

Original: And in the fountain shall we gaze so long
Modern: And should we stare into that fountain so long

Original: Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
Modern: Until the fresh taste is taken from that clear water,

Original: And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?
Modern: And turn it into a salt pit with our bitter tears?

Original: Or shall we cut away our hands, like thine?
Modern: Or should we cut off our hands, like yours were?

Original: Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows
Modern: Or should we bite off our tongues, and in silent gestures

Original: Pass the remainder of our hateful days?
Modern: Spend the rest of our miserable lives?

Original: What shall we do? let us, that have our tongues,
Modern: What should we do? Let us, who still have our tongues,

Original: Plot some deuce of further misery,
Modern: Plan some kind of additional suffering,

Original: To make us wonder’d at in time to come.
Modern: To make people marvel at us in the future.

In Act III, Scene 1 of Titus Andronicus, Titus, Marcus, and Titus’s sons Lucius and Quintus enter as prisoners being led to execution. Titus pleads desperately with the judges and tribunes, falling to his knees and begging for mercy for his sons, who he insists are innocent of murdering Bassianus. Despite his impassioned appeals and offers to ransom his sons with his own blood, the officials remain unmoved and continue toward the place of execution. Marcus joins in the pleading, but their entreaties fall on deaf ears.

Aaron the Moor then appears and deceives Titus by claiming that the Emperor will spare Lucius and Quintus if one of the Andronici will sacrifice his hand. Titus, Marcus, and Lucius each volunteer to make this sacrifice, but Titus tricks the others and allows Aaron to cut off his hand offstage. When Aaron returns Titus’s severed hand along with the heads of his two executed sons, the cruel deception is revealed. The scene concludes with the grief-stricken family discovering that Titus’s sacrifice was meaningless, as Lucius and Quintus have been killed regardless of the promised bargain.

Titus Andronicus opens with the Roman general Titus returning victorious from war against the Goths, bringing with him prisoners including Tamora, Queen of the Goths, and her three sons. Despite Tamora’s pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son Alarbus in revenge for his own sons killed in battle. The Emperor Saturninus chooses Tamora as his bride, and she secretly plots revenge against Titus. Meanwhile, Titus’s daughter Lavinia is betrothed to Bassianus, the Emperor’s brother, though Saturninus had wanted to marry her himself.

Tamora’s sons Demetrius and Chiron, aided by the villainous Aaron the Moor, murder Bassianus and brutally assault Lavinia, cutting off her hands and tongue to prevent her from identifying them. Aaron tricks two of Titus’s sons, Quintus and Martius, into falling into the pit where Bassianus’s body lies, and they are arrested for his murder. Aaron then deceives Titus into believing that if he cuts off his own hand and sends it to the Emperor, his sons will be spared. Titus complies, but receives back his severed hand along with the heads of his executed sons.

Lavinia manages to reveal her attackers’ identities by writing in the dirt with a stick held in her mouth. Titus feigns madness while plotting revenge and sends weapons with threatening messages to Tamora’s sons. When Tamora gives birth to Aaron’s child, Aaron flees with the baby but is eventually captured. In the final act, Titus kills Tamora’s sons and serves them to her baked in a pie at a banquet. He then kills Lavinia to end her suffering, murders Tamora, and is immediately killed by Saturninus. Titus’s surviving son Lucius kills Saturninus and is proclaimed the new Emperor, ordering Aaron to be buried alive and vowing to restore order to Rome.