Original: Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
Modern: Don’t you think I have good reason to look so frightened and sick?

Original: These two have ‘ticed me hither to this place:
Modern: These two men lured me here to this place:

Original: A barren detested vale, you see it is;
Modern: A empty, horrible valley, as you can see;

Original: The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
Modern: The trees, even though it’s summer, look abandoned and thin,

Original: O’ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe:
Modern: Covered with moss and poisonous mistletoe:

Original: Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
Modern: The sun never shines here; nothing lives or grows here,

Original: Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven:
Modern: Except for the night owl or the death-bringing raven:

Original: And when they show’d me this abhorred pit,
Modern: And when they showed me this horrible pit,

Original: They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
Modern: They told me that here, in the dead of night,

Original: A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Modern: A thousand demons, a thousand hissing snakes,

Original: Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
Modern: Ten thousand bloated toads, and just as many goblins,

Original: Would make such fearful and confused cries
Modern: Would make such terrifying and chaotic screams

Original: As any mortal body hearing it
Modern: That any human being hearing it

Original: Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.
Modern: Would immediately go insane, or else drop dead on the spot.

Original: No sooner had they told this hellish tale,
Modern: As soon as they finished telling this story from hell,

Original: But straight they told me they would bind me here
Modern: They immediately told me they would tie me up here

Original: Unto the body of a dismal yew,
Modern: To the trunk of a gloomy yew tree,

Original: And leave me to this miserable death:
Modern: And leave me here to die horribly:

Original: And then they call’d me foul adulteress,
Modern: And then they called me a disgusting adulteress,

Original: Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
Modern: Lustful barbarian, and every cruel insult

Original: That ever ear did hear to such effect:
Modern: That anyone has ever heard used for such purposes:

Original: And, had you not by wondrous fortune come,
Modern: And if you hadn’t come by amazing good luck,

Original: This vengeance on me had they executed.
Modern: They would have carried out this revenge on me.

Original: Revenge it, as you love your mother’s life,
Modern: Get revenge for this, if you love your mother’s life,

Original: Or be ye not henceforth call’d my children.
Modern: Or don’t call yourselves my children anymore.

In Act II, Scene 3 of Titus Andronicus, Aaron the Moor leads Bassianus and Lavinia to a pit in the forest, claiming he has gold hidden there. This scene occurs during a hunting party organized by the Emperor Saturninus. Aaron has orchestrated this meeting as part of a larger revenge plot against the Andronicus family. When Bassianus and Lavinia arrive at the designated location, they encounter Tamora, the Goth Queen and now Empress of Rome, along with her sons Demetrius and Chiron.

The encounter quickly turns violent when Tamora’s sons murder Bassianus and drag Lavinia away to assault her. Meanwhile, two of Titus’s sons, Quintus and Martius, arrive at the scene and discover Bassianus’s body, which has been thrown into the pit along with a bag of gold planted as evidence. Aaron had previously written a letter implicating Titus’s sons in a plot to kill Bassianus for the gold. When Saturninus and his hunting party arrive, they find the compromising evidence and arrest Quintus and Martius for the murder. The scene concludes with the brothers being led away as prisoners, while Tamora’s sons return having completed their brutal assault on Lavinia, whom they leave mutilated in the forest.

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.