Original: Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!
Modern: They’ve gone to get married! Gone to make a peace treaty!

Original: False blood to false blood join’d! gone to be friends!
Modern: Traitors joining with traitors! Gone to become allies!

Original: Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those provinces?
Modern: Will Lewis get Blanch, and will Blanch get those lands?

Original: It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard:
Modern: This can’t be true; you’ve spoken wrong or heard wrong:

Original: Be well advised, tell o’er thy tale again:
Modern: Think carefully, and tell me your story again:

Original: It cannot be; thou dost but say ‘tis so:
Modern: This is impossible; you’re just saying it happened:

Original: I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word
Modern: I hope I don’t have to believe you; because your word

Original: Is but the vain breath of a common man:
Modern: Is just the empty words of an ordinary person:

Original: Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;
Modern: Trust me, I don’t believe you, sir;

Original: I have a king’s oath to the contrary.
Modern: I have the king’s promise that says the opposite.

Original: Thou shalt be punish’d for thus frighting me,
Modern: You’ll be punished for scaring me like this,

Original: For I am sick and capable of fears,
Modern: Because I’m ill and easily frightened,

Original: Oppress’d with wrongs and therefore full of fears,
Modern: Crushed by injustices and therefore full of fears,

Original: A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,
Modern: A widow, without a husband, prone to fears,

Original: A woman, naturally born to fears;
Modern: A woman, naturally inclined to be afraid;

Original: And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,
Modern: And even if you admit now that you were only joking,

Original: With my vex’d spirits I cannot take a truce,
Modern: My troubled mind cannot find peace,

Original: But they will quake and tremble all this day.
Modern: My nerves will shake and tremble all day long.

Original: What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
Modern: What do you mean by shaking your head like that?

Original: Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
Modern: Why are you looking at my son so sadly?

Original: What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Modern: What does it mean that you’re holding your hand to your chest?

Original: Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Modern: Why are your eyes filled with those sorrowful tears,

Original: Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds?
Modern: Like a swollen river overflowing its banks?

Original: Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
Modern: Do these sad gestures confirm what you’re telling me?

Original: Then speak again; not all thy former tale,
Modern: Then speak again; not your whole story,

Original: But this one word, whether thy tale be true.
Modern: But just tell me this one thing: is your story true?

In Act III, Scene i of “King John,” the scene opens at the French King’s pavilion where King Philip of France, Lewis the Dauphin, Pandulph (a papal legate), and Constance discuss the recent marriage alliance between Lady Blanch and Lewis. Constance is distraught over this development, as it has resulted in King Philip making peace with England and abandoning her son Arthur’s claim to the English throne. Cardinal Pandulph arrives to confront King John about his defiance of the Pope’s authority regarding the appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. When John refuses to submit to papal authority and declares he will not yield to Rome’s demands, Pandulph excommunicates him and releases all his subjects from their allegiance to him.

Pandulph then turns to King Philip and insists that he must break his newly formed alliance with England, as maintaining friendship with an excommunicated king would put France in opposition to the Church. Despite Philip’s reluctance to break the peace so soon after establishing it through his son’s marriage, Pandulph persuades him by threatening France with similar consequences if he continues to support the excommunicated John. The scene concludes with the French king agreeing to renounce his treaty with England, setting the stage for renewed hostilities between the two nations. John responds defiantly to this betrayal of their peace agreement, and war between England and France resumes.

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.