Original: ‘Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France’
Modern: “Until I don’t have a wife, I have nothing in France”

Original: Nothing in France until he has no wife!
Modern: He’ll have nothing in France until he doesn’t have a wife!

Original: Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France;
Modern: You’ll have nothing, Rousillon, nothing in France;

Original: Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is’t I
Modern: Then you’ll have everything back again. Poor lord! Is it me

Original: That chase thee from thy country, and expose
Modern: Who chases you from your country, and puts

Original: Those tender limbs of thine to the event
Modern: Your gentle body in the path

Original: Of the non-sparing war? and is it I
Modern: Of merciless war? And is it me

Original: That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou
Modern: Who drives you from the playful court, where you

Original: Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
Modern: Were targeted by beautiful women’s glances, to become the target

Original: Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers,
Modern: Of smoky muskets? Oh you lead bullets,

Original: That ride upon the violent speed of fire,
Modern: That travel at the violent speed of gunfire,

Original: Fly with false aim; move the still-piecing air,
Modern: Fly with bad aim; cut through the air that heals itself,

Original: That sings with piercing; do not touch my lord!
Modern: That whistles as you pierce through it; don’t hit my husband!

Original: Whoever shoots at him, I set him there;
Modern: Whoever shoots at him, I put him in that position;

Original: Whoever charges on his forward breast,
Modern: Whoever attacks him head-on,

Original: I am the caitiff that do hold him to ‘t;
Modern: I am the coward who keeps him there;

Original: And, though I kill him not, I am the cause
Modern: And, though I don’t kill him myself, I am the reason

Original: His death was so effected: better ‘twere
Modern: His death happened this way: it would be better

Original: I met the ravin lion when he roar’d
Modern: If I faced a starving lion when it roared

Original: With sharp constraint of hunger; better ‘twere
Modern: With the sharp pain of hunger; it would be better

Original: That all the miseries which nature owes
Modern: If all the suffering that life brings

Original: Were mine at once. No, come thou home, Rousillon,
Modern: Were all mine at once. No, come home, Rousillon,

Original: Whence honour but of danger wins a scar,
Modern: Where honor only wins a scar from danger,

Original: As oft it loses all: I will be gone;
Modern: As often as it loses everything: I will leave;

Original: My being here it is that holds thee hence:
Modern: My being here is what keeps you away:

Original: Shall I stay here to do ‘t? no, no, although
Modern: Should I stay here to do this? No, no, even if

Original: The air of paradise did fan the house,
Modern: The air of paradise cooled this house,

Original: And angels offic’d all: I will be gone,
Modern: And angels served as all the servants: I will leave,

Original: That pitiful rumour may report my flight,
Modern: So that sad rumors may report my departure,

Original: To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day!
Modern: To comfort your ears. Come, night; end, day!

Original: For with the dark, poor thief, I’ll steal away.
Modern: Because with the darkness, like a poor thief, I’ll sneak away.

In Act III, Scene ii of “All’s Well That Ends Well,” the Countess of Rousillon receives a letter from her son Bertram informing her that he has fled France to avoid his unwanted marriage to Helena. Bertram writes that he will not return home while Helena remains there as his wife, declaring that she shall never truly be his wife until she can show him a child that is his and obtain his ring from his finger - conditions he believes impossible to fulfill. The Countess is deeply distressed by her son’s behavior and harsh rejection of Helena, whom she has grown to love as a daughter.

Helena enters and reveals that she too has received a letter from Bertram containing the same cruel conditions for their marriage. Devastated by the situation and feeling responsible for Bertram’s exile from his homeland, Helena decides to leave Rousillon secretly. She resolves to become a pilgrim and wander the world so that Bertram can return home to his mother and his rightful place. Helena departs without revealing her destination to the Countess, determined that her absence will allow Bertram to come back and that she will no longer be an obstacle to his happiness or relationship with his mother.

“All’s Well That Ends Well” follows Helena, a physician’s daughter living in the household of the Countess of Rousillon, who is deeply in love with the Countess’s son, Bertram. When the King of France falls gravely ill, Helena travels to court and offers to cure him using remedies learned from her late father. She succeeds in healing the King, who grants her any husband of her choosing as reward. Helena selects Bertram, but he reluctantly marries her and immediately departs for the wars in Italy, declaring he will never consummate the marriage until she can obtain his ancestral ring and bear his child - conditions he believes impossible to fulfill.

Helena returns to Rousillon, where she learns of Bertram’s conditions through a letter. Disguising herself as a pilgrim, she travels to Florence, where Bertram is staying and pursuing Diana, a young woman whose mother keeps a lodging house. Helena reveals her identity to Diana and her mother, proposing a bed trick: Diana will agree to meet Bertram secretly, but Helena will take her place in the darkness. During their encounter, Helena obtains Bertram’s ring and gives him another ring that the King had previously given her.

Helena spreads word of her own death and returns to France, where Bertram has come to seek a new wife with the King’s blessing. When Bertram presents Helena’s ring to his prospective bride, the King recognizes it and suspects Bertram of murdering Helena. Diana arrives and presents Bertram’s ring as proof of their relationship, leading to confusion until Helena appears, pregnant with Bertram’s child and wearing his family ring. Faced with the fulfillment of his impossible conditions, Bertram accepts Helena as his true wife, and the King promises to arrange Diana’s marriage to a suitable husband.