As You Like It: 2,676 Lines, 27 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

As You Like It (c. 1599) is a comedy with 2,676 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 22 scenes. 27 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 65% of the play. The gender balance (61% male, 39% female) is unusually even for Shakespeare.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Orlando: “As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 4) with Rosalind: “kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell.”

Full cast of As You Like It by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Rosalind ♀	677	25.3%	5
2	Orlando ♂	297	11.1%	5
3	Celia ♀	276	10.3%	4
4	Touchstone ♂	275	10.3%	4
5	Jaques ♂	227	8.5%	4
6	Oliver ♂	147	5.5%	4
7	Duke Senior ♂	111	4.1%	2
8	Phebe ♀	86	3.2%	2
9	Silvius ♂	75	2.8%	4
10	Duke Frederick ♂	69	2.6%	3
11	Corin ♂	68	2.5%	3
12	Adam ♂	65	2.4%	2
13	First Lord ♂	46	1.7%	1
14	Le Beau ♂	46	1.7%	1
15	Charles ♂	41	1.5%	1
16	Amiens ♂	37	1.4%	1
17	Hymen ♂	31	1.2%	1
18	Second Page ♂	22	0.8%	1
19	Audrey ♀	18	0.7%	2
20	Jaques De Boys ♂	17	0.6%	1
21	William ♂	11	0.4%	1
22	Second Lord ♂	11	0.4%	1
23	Forester ♂	10	0.4%	1
24	First Page ♂	5	0.2%	1
25	Sir Oliver Martext ♂	4	0.1%	1
…2 additional speaking roles with fewer than 4 lines

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	3	568	10
Act 2	7	550	13
Act 3	5	720	12
Act 4	3	404	8
Act 5	4	434	15

Longest scenes in As You Like It

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 3, Scene 2	409	6
Act 1, Scene 2	268	7
Act 5, Scene 4	217	9
Act 2, Scene 7	205	6
Act 4, Scene 1	199	4

Common questions

How long is As You Like It?

As You Like It contains 2,676 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 22 scenes — roughly 122 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in As You Like It?

Rosalind leads the cast with 677 lines — about 25% of the play.

Which act of As You Like It is longest?

Act 3 runs 720 lines across 5 scenes.

As You Like It