Winter's Tale: 3,362 Lines, 35 Characters, Act-by-Act Breakdown

Winter's Tale (c. 1611) is a romance with 3,362 lines of dialogue distributed across 5 acts and 14 scenes. 35 named characters speak at least once; the top five voices account for 56% of the play. Dialogue splits 77% male and 23% female.

The play opens (Act 1, Scene 1) with Archidamus: “If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on”

The play closes (Act 5, Scene 3) with Leontes: “We were dissever'd: hastily lead away.”

Full cast of Winter's Tale by line count

#	Character	Lines	Share	Acts
1	Leontes ♂	692	20.6%	4
2	Paulina ♀	340	10.1%	3
3	Camillo ♂	299	8.9%	3
4	Autolycus ♂	294	8.7%	2
5	Polixenes ♂	273	8.1%	3
6	Hermione ♀	211	6.3%	4
7	Florizel ♂	206	6.1%	2
8	Clown ♂	184	5.5%	3
9	Shepherd ♂	133	4.0%	3
10	Perdita ♀	131	3.9%	2
11	Antigonus ♂	112	3.3%	2
12	Third Gentleman ♂	66	2.0%	1
13	Servant ♂	45	1.3%	3
14	First Lord ♂	36	1.1%	2
15	Time ♀	33	1.0%	1
16	Dion ♂	28	0.8%	2
17	Officer ♂	26	0.8%	1
18	First Gentleman ♂	26	0.8%	1
19	Lord ♂	24	0.7%	1
20	Cleomenes ♂	24	0.7%	2
21	Archidamus ♂	22	0.7%	1
22	Mamillius ♂	22	0.7%	2
23	Emilia ♀	21	0.6%	1
24	Mopsa ♀	20	0.6%	1
25	Gentleman ♂	18	0.5%	1
…10 additional speaking roles with fewer than 18 lines

Line counts act by act

Act	Scenes	Lines	Speakers
Act 1	2	584	6
Act 2	3	566	14
Act 3	3	434	13
Act 4	3	1,142	12
Act 5	3	636	17

Longest scenes in Winter's Tale

Scene	Lines	Speakers
Act 4, Scene 4	929	11
Act 1, Scene 2	539	5
Act 5, Scene 1	281	8
Act 3, Scene 2	267	9
Act 2, Scene 3	248	8

Common questions

How long is Winter’s Tale?

Winter's Tale contains 3,362 lines of dialogue across 5 acts and 14 scenes — roughly 240 lines per scene on average.

Who speaks the most in Winter’s Tale?

Leontes leads the cast with 692 lines — about 21% of the play.

Which act of Winter’s Tale is longest?

Act 4 runs 1,142 lines across 3 scenes.

Winter’s Tale