All's Well That Ends Well: 2,925 Lines, 24 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

All's Well That Ends Well (c. 1603) is a problem play with 2,925 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 23 scenes. 24 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 61% of the play. The gender balance (67% male, 33% female) is unusually even for Shakespeare.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Countess: “In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 3) with King: “Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts.”

Full cast of All's Well That Ends Well by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Helena ♀	473	16.2%	5
2	King ♂	387	13.2%	3
3	Parolles ♂	365	12.5%	5
4	Countess ♀	281	9.6%	5
5	Lafeu ♂	274	9.4%	4
6	Bertram ♂	273	9.3%	5
7	Clown ♂	193	6.6%	5
8	Second Lord ♂	147	5.0%	4
9	Diana ♀	136	4.6%	3
10	First Lord ♂	114	3.9%	4
11	First Soldier ♂	78	2.7%	1
12	Widow ♀	65	2.2%	3
13	Steward ♂	43	1.5%	2
14	Gentleman ♂	22	0.8%	1
15	Mariana ♀	20	0.7%	1
16	Duke ♂	19	0.6%	1
17	First Gentleman ♂	12	0.4%	1
18	Second Gentleman ♂	11	0.4%	1
19	Servant ♂	4	0.1%	1
20	All ♂	2	0.1%	2
21	Both ♂	2	0.1%	2
22	Second Soldier ♂	2	0.1%	1
23	Page ♂	1	0.0%	1
24	Fourth Lord ♂	1	0.0%	1

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	3	570	11
Act 2	5	740	12
Act 3	7	502	15
Act 4	5	637	14
Act 5	3	476	10

Longest scenes in All's Well That Ends Well

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 5, Scene 3	378	9
Act 4, Scene 3	321	6
Act 2, Scene 3	302	9
Act 1, Scene 3	262	4
Act 1, Scene 1	222	6

Common questions

How long is All’s Well That Ends Well?

All's Well That Ends Well contains 2,925 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 23 scenes — roughly 127 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in All’s Well That Ends Well?

Helena leads the cast with 473 lines — about 16% of the play.

Which act of All’s Well That Ends Well is longest?

Act 2 runs 740 lines across 5 scenes.

All’s Well That Ends Well