Hamlet: 4,023 Lines, 37 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

Hamlet (c. 1600) is a tragedy with 4,023 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 20 scenes. 37 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 72% of the play. Male voices dominate at 91% — female speakers deliver only 9%.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Francisco: “Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 2) with Prince Fortinbras: “Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.”

Full cast of Hamlet by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Hamlet ♂	1,495	37.2%	5
2	King Claudius ♂	546	13.6%	5
3	Lord Polonius ♂	355	8.8%	3
4	Horatio ♂	291	7.2%	4
5	Laertes ♂	206	5.1%	3
6	Ophelia ♀	173	4.3%	4
7	Queen Gertrude ♀	157	3.9%	5
8	Ghost ♂	95	2.4%	2
9	First Clown ♂	94	2.3%	1
10	Marcellus ♂	67	1.7%	1
11	First Player ♂	52	1.3%	2
12	Osric ♂	48	1.2%	1
13	Player King ♂	44	1.1%	1
14	Bernardo ♂	38	0.9%	1
15	Player Queen ♀	30	0.7%	1
16	Prince Fortinbras ♂	27	0.7%	2
17	Gentleman ♂	24	0.6%	1
18	Voltimand ♂	22	0.5%	2
19	Second Clown ♂	18	0.4%	1
20	Reynaldo ♂	15	0.4%	1
21	First Priest ♂	13	0.3%	1
22	Captain ♂	12	0.3%	1
23	Francisco ♂	10	0.2%	1
24	Lord ♂	7	0.2%	1
25	First Ambassador ♂	6	0.1%	1
…10 additional speaking roles with fewer than 6 lines

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	5	921	14
Act 2	2	748	10
Act 3	4	930	15
Act 4	7	693	17
Act 5	2	731	13

Longest scenes in Hamlet

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 2, Scene 2	617	8
Act 5, Scene 2	424	10
Act 3, Scene 2	391	14
Act 5, Scene 1	307	9
Act 1, Scene 2	279	11

Common questions

How long is Hamlet?

Hamlet contains 4,023 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 20 scenes — roughly 201 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in Hamlet?

Hamlet leads the cast with 1,495 lines — about 37% of the play.

Which act of Hamlet is longest?

Act 3 runs 930 lines across 4 scenes.

Hamlet