Original: Be woe for me, more wretched than he is.
Modern: Feel sorry for me - I’m more miserable than he is.

Original: What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face?
Modern: What, are you turning away and hiding your face from me?

Original: I am no loathsome leper; look on me.
Modern: I’m not some disgusting diseased person - look at me.

Original: What! art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?
Modern: What! Are you like a snake, pretending to be deaf?

Original: Be poisonous too and kill thy forlorn queen.
Modern: Then be poisonous too and kill your abandoned queen.

Original: Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb?
Modern: Is all your happiness buried with Gloucester in his grave?

Original: Why, then, dame Margaret was ne’er thy joy.
Modern: Well then, Lady Margaret was never your happiness.

Original: Erect his statue and worship it,
Modern: Build a statue of him and worship it,

Original: And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Modern: And make my picture nothing more than a tavern sign.

Original: Was I for this nigh wreck’d upon the sea
Modern: Was it for this that I was nearly shipwrecked at sea

Original: And twice by awkward wind from England’s bank
Modern: And twice driven by harsh winds away from England’s shore

Original: Drove back again unto my native clime?
Modern: And pushed back to my home country?

Original: What boded this, but well forewarning wind
Modern: What did this mean, except that the wind was warning me

Original: Did seem to say ‘Seek not a scorpion’s nest,
Modern: And seemed to say ‘Don’t look for a nest of scorpions,

Original: Nor set no footing on this unkind shore’?
Modern: And don’t set foot on this cruel shore’?

Original: What did I then, but cursed the gentle gusts
Modern: What did I do then, but curse those soft winds

Original: And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves:
Modern: And the god who released them from their bronze caves:

Original: And bid them blow towards England’s blessed shore,
Modern: And I told them to blow toward England’s blessed shore,

Original: Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock
Modern: Or crash our ship’s back end upon some terrible rock

Original: Yet AEolus would not be a murderer,
Modern: But the wind god wouldn’t be a killer,

Original: But left that hateful office unto thee:
Modern: And left that horrible job to you:

Original: The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,
Modern: The beautiful arching sea refused to drown me,

Original: Knowing that thou wouldst have me drown’d on shore,
Modern: Knowing that you would rather have me drown on land,

Original: With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness:
Modern: With tears as salty as the ocean, because of your cruelty:

Original: The splitting rocks cower’d in the sinking sands
Modern: The jagged rocks hid themselves in the shifting sand

Original: And would not dash me with their ragged sides,
Modern: And wouldn’t smash me with their sharp edges,

Original: Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Modern: Because your stone-cold heart, harder than those rocks,

Original: Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
Modern: Could kill Margaret right here in your palace.

Original: As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
Modern: As far as I could see your white cliffs,

Original: When from thy shore the tempest beat us back,
Modern: When the storm drove us away from your shore,

Original: I stood upon the hatches in the storm,
Modern: I stood on the ship’s deck in the storm,

Original: And when the dusky sky began to rob
Modern: And when the dark sky began to steal

Original: My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view,
Modern: My eager, staring eyes from the sight of your land,

Original: I took a costly jewel from my neck,
Modern: I took an expensive jewel from around my neck,

Original: A heart it was, bound in with diamonds,
Modern: It was a heart-shaped jewel, surrounded with diamonds,

Original: And threw it towards thy land: the sea received it,
Modern: And threw it toward your land: the sea caught it,

Original: And so I wish’d thy body might my heart:
Modern: And I wished your body could receive my heart the same way:

Original: And even with this I lost fair England’s view
Modern: And right then I lost sight of beautiful England

Original: And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart
Modern: And told my eyes to go away with my heart

Original: And call’d them blind and dusky spectacles,
Modern: And called them blind and useless glasses,

Original: For losing ken of Albion’s wished coast.
Modern: For losing sight of England’s desired coastline.

Original: How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue,
Modern: How often have I encouraged Suffolk to speak,

Original: The agent of thy foul inconstancy,
Modern: Your messenger of betrayal,

Original: To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did
Modern: To sit and enchant me with stories, like Ascanius did

Original: When he to madding Dido would unfold
Modern: When he told the love-crazed Dido

Original: His father’s acts commenced in burning Troy!
Modern: About his father’s deeds that started in burning Troy!

Original: Am I not witch’d like her? or thou not false like him?
Modern: Haven’t I been bewitched like her? And aren’t you as false as he was?

Original: Ay me, I can no more! die, Margaret!
Modern: Oh no, I can’t take any more! Die, Margaret!

Original: For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
Modern: Because Henry cries that you have lived this long.

In Act III, Scene 2 of “Henry VI, Part 2,” King Henry VI and Queen Margaret enter with various nobles to find the Duke of Suffolk in attendance. The King has summoned the Duke of Gloucester to appear before the court, but a messenger arrives with shocking news: Gloucester has been found dead in his bed. The King immediately faints upon hearing this, and when he revives, he expresses his profound grief over the loss of his uncle and protector. The Queen and others attempt to comfort him, but the King laments that Gloucester was murdered and that his death represents a grave injustice.

The scene erupts into accusations and conflict when Warwick and others openly accuse Suffolk of orchestrating Gloucester’s murder. Suffolk vehemently denies the charges, and a heated exchange follows between Suffolk and Warwick, with the Commons outside demanding Suffolk’s death or banishment. When Gloucester’s body is brought onstage, Warwick examines it and declares that the physical evidence proves murder rather than natural death. Despite Suffolk’s protests of innocence and the Queen’s defense of him, the King ultimately banishes Suffolk from England, giving him three days to depart. The scene concludes with Margaret and Suffolk sharing a grief-stricken farewell, expressing their anguish at being separated, before Vaux enters with news that Cardinal Beaufort lies dying and calling for the King.

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.