The Comedy of Errors: 1,962 Lines, 20 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

The Comedy of Errors (c. 1594) is a comedy with 1,962 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 11 scenes. 20 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 64% of the play. The gender balance (74% male, 26% female) is unusually even for Shakespeare.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Aegeon: “Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 1) with Dromio Of Ephesus: “And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another.”

Full cast of The Comedy of Errors by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Dromio Of Syracuse ♂	314	16.0%	5
2	Adriana ♀	275	14.0%	4
3	Of Syracuse ♂	271	13.8%	5
4	Of Ephesus ♂	210	10.7%	3
5	Dromio Of Ephesus ♂	187	9.5%	5
6	Aegeon ♂	147	7.5%	2
7	Luciana ♀	105	5.4%	4
8	Angelo ♂	96	4.9%	3
9	Duke Solinus ♂	93	4.7%	2
10	Aemelia ♀	73	3.7%	1
11	Courtezan ♀	39	2.0%	2
12	Second Merchant ♂	38	1.9%	2
13	Balthazar ♂	31	1.6%	1
14	First Merchant ♂	18	0.9%	1
15	Officer ♂	16	0.8%	1
16	Pinch ♂	16	0.8%	1
17	Servant ♂	15	0.8%	1
18	Luce ♀	11	0.6%	1
19	Antipholus ♂	6	0.3%	3
20	Gaoler ♂	1	0.1%	1

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	2	274	7
Act 2	2	365	5
Act 3	2	377	10
Act 4	4	490	12
Act 5	1	456	14

Longest scenes in The Comedy of Errors

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 5, Scene 1	456	14
Act 2, Scene 2	249	4
Act 3, Scene 2	211	5
Act 4, Scene 4	184	10
Act 3, Scene 1	166	8

Common questions

How long is The Comedy of Errors?

The Comedy of Errors contains 1,962 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 11 scenes — roughly 178 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in The Comedy of Errors?

Dromio Of Syracuse leads the cast with 314 lines — about 16% of the play.

Which act of The Comedy of Errors is longest?

Act 4 runs 490 lines across 4 scenes.

The Comedy of Errors