Romeo and Juliet: 3,079 Lines, 35 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595) is a tragedy with 3,079 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 25 scenes. 35 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 67% of the play. The gender balance (69% male, 31% female) is unusually even for Shakespeare.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Sampson: “Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 3) with Prince: “Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Full cast of Romeo and Juliet by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Romeo ♂	612	19.9%	4
2	Juliet ♀	544	17.7%	5
3	Friar Laurence ♂	351	11.4%	4
4	Nurse ♀	281	9.1%	4
5	Capulet ♂	273	8.9%	4
6	Mercutio ♂	261	8.5%	3
7	Benvolio ♂	160	5.2%	3
8	Prince ♂	76	2.5%	3
9	Paris ♂	70	2.3%	4
10	Montague ♂	41	1.3%	3
11	Tybalt ♂	36	1.2%	2
12	Peter ♂	33	1.1%	2
13	Balthasar ♂	32	1.0%	1
14	Sampson ♂	31	1.0%	1
15	Servant ♂	23	0.7%	1
16	Gregory ♂	20	0.6%	1
17	First Watchman ♂	19	0.6%	1
18	Chorus ♂	14	0.5%	1
19	Friar John ♂	13	0.4%	1
20	Second Servant ♂	12	0.4%	2
21	First Servant ♂	10	0.3%	2
22	Page ♂	9	0.3%	1
23	First Musician ♂	9	0.3%	1
24	Apothecary ♂	7	0.2%	1
25	First Citizen ♂	6	0.2%	2
…9 additional speaking roles with fewer than 6 lines

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	5	725	20
Act 2	7	685	8
Act 3	5	821	13
Act 4	5	407	14
Act 5	3	441	15

Longest scenes in Romeo and Juliet

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 5, Scene 3	321	13
Act 3, Scene 5	255	5
Act 1, Scene 1	238	12
Act 2, Scene 4	208	5
Act 2, Scene 2	204	3

Common questions

How long is Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet contains 3,079 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 25 scenes — roughly 123 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo leads the cast with 612 lines — about 20% of the play.

Which act of Romeo and Juliet is longest?

Act 3 runs 821 lines across 5 scenes.

Romeo and Juliet