Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
How does it compare to the original?
Weve taken excerpts from a few scenes that directly line up with Shakespeares own, to see.
(All quotations from the plays courtesy theOpen Source Shakespeareproject.)
Shall we but treason?
and indent with fears,
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
Art thou not ashamed?
I rather believe Mortimer a traitor.
He has joined the Welsh rebels.
He has betrayed England, and is now an enemy of mine, and therefore of yours.
You agree with myprecis, young Hotspur?
No, your grace.
I believe yours to be the ramblings of a crazy old demon.
My family have served you.
We aided you in your ascension and still we fight for you.
Cousin Mortimer has fought for you.
But Ive seen one eke enough wing-flap to clear a fence.
But then so too are the foxes.
You are right, young Percy, I owe you much.
I owe your family still more.
Has this been heard, young Percy?
Hotspur fights Prince Hal
Hotspur, what a character!
HENRY V
Thou speakst as if I would deny my name.
My name is Harry Percy.
Why, then I see
A very valiant rebel of the name.
[They fight.]
Why is the little dog barking?
Where be the big dog?
[Enter Henry V]
It will be done.
And here I am with the whoring fool.
This fight need not be had, Percy.
My father will soon be dead.
Your grievances will die with him.
Dont be afraid of our small contest, young Hal.
I promise to finish it quickly.
Your father is plague to England.
Come for me, big dog!
That keepst the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night!
Sleep with it now!
By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather which stirs not.
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move.
[Putting on the crown.]
In the play, Henry IV eventually awakes, and father and son share a final reconciliation.
InThe King, that moment is much shorter, and slightly different:
You feel this cold?
[He tears the sheets from his fathers bed.]
You must be king.
I know not what I have done.
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry Harry.
Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, by my faith, it very well becomes you.
Its version of the above monologue comes roughly 30 seconds after Henry has stormed into the kings bedchamber.
You know not what will become of you.
So, I offer you this.
The most blessed reprieve.
The most dreadful misery.
You shall suffer the indignity of serving me, the wayward son you so revile.
But know now you will be watched over by an altogether different king.
Convey them with safe conduct.
There is no accompanying message from the Dauphin?
COURTIER
No, my liege.
I shall keep this gift.
This one is sent only for me.
For the boy I once was.
[Later]
CHIEF JUSTICE
The ball is an insult to you and to your kingdom.
Remember where as prince I whiled and how I spent my days?
You spent them in considered privation.
So is there not some truth in this jest?
If the Dauphin wants from me a paroxysm, why give it to him?
It would be a show of strength.
I appreciate your umbrage, William.
EARL OF CAMBRIDGE
I one, my lord:
Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
LORD SCROOP
So did you me, my liege.
SIR THOMAS GREY
And I, my royal sovereign.
My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,
We will aboard to night.
Why, how now, gentlemen!
What see you in those papers that you lose
So much complexion?
Look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper.
Why, what read you there
That hath so cowarded and chased your blood
Out of appearance?
I do confess my fault;
And do submit me to your highness mercy.
[with Scroop] To which we all appeal.
Henry continues with another longer speech, but nobodys got time for that in a Netflix movie.
Twice I have given her the benefit of my doubt.
This third affront will not be left unchecked.
But I believe in the morning youll be otherwise engaged.
Pray how, my liege?
Tomorrow you will have your heads cut off.
Whats he that wishes so?
I pray thee, wish not one man more.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
Gods peace!
O, do not wish one more!
And say These wounds I had on Crispins day.
There was absolutely no wayThe Kingwas going to be able to top this.
But at least they gave it a try!
Heres what Michod comes up with:
You expect of me a speech?
I have only one to give.
It is the same one Id give were we not standing on the brim of a battlefield.
It is the same one Id give were we to meet in the street by chance.
I have only ever hoped for one thing: to see this kingdom united under this English crown.
All men are born to die.
We carry it with us always.
If your day be today, so be it.
Mine will be tomorrow.
Or mine today and yours tomorrow.
What matters is that you know in your hearts that today you are that kingdom united.
You are England, each and every one of you.
And it is the space between you.
Fight not for yourselves.
Fight for that space.
Great men to it, captains, lords.
Great men to it!
Except … she doesnt speak English!
KATHARINE
Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England.
Do you like me, Kate?
Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is like me.
An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.
que je suis semblable a les anges?
[What is he saying?
That I resemble an angel?]
ALICE
Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grace, ainsi dit-il.
[Yes, thats what hes saying.]
I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it.
les langues des hommes sont pleines de tromperies.
The language of men is full of deception.]
What says she, fair one?
that the tongues of men are full of deceits?
Oui, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is de princess.
The princess is the better Englishwoman.
I wear out my suit.
Sauf votre honneur, me understand vell.
[In French] You are beautiful.
[In French] I will no longer speak French.
We must speak English.
[In French] I cannot speak English.
[In French] You will learn.
[In French] I wonder then, how our union might proceed in the meantime.
There is much I wonder about a great many things.
Indeed there must be for you to contemplate marriage to a woman about whom you know so little.
I will not submit to you.
You must earn my respect.
Do you feel a sense of achievement?
I have achieved that which my father never could.
I have united this kingdom in common cause.
You have achieved momentary respite.
A unity forged under false pretense will never be a unity that prevails.
How, pray, have my endeavors been forged falsely?
I think this makes for a much better story.
Ill leave it up to you to decide whether thats true or not.
