Romeo and Juliet: numbers overall

Romeo and Juliet

  • 3004 total lines; longer than average play and tragedy (average play: 2777; average tragedy: 2890)
  • At 14 lines, the Choruses for both Acts One and Two are the shortest of its kind in the Canon
  • At 244 lines, Act Three, Scene Five is the longest of its kind in the Canon
  • Act One: 718 lines; longer than average (average play: 590, average tragedy: 647)
  • Act Two: 666 lines; longer than average (average play: 568, average tragedy: 573)
  • Act Three: 794 lines; longer than average (average play: 576, average tragedy: 633)
  • Act Four: 401 lines; shorter than average (average play: 563, average tragedy: 555)
  • Act Five: 425 lines; shorter than average (average play: 480, average tragedy: 465)
  • 426 lines of prose (14.18% of total lines [as opposed to The Comedy of Errors: 13.31%, Titus Andronicus: 1.39%, The Taming of the Shrew: 20.82%, 1HenryVI: 0.37%, 2HenryVI: 16.64%, 3HenryVI: 0.14%, Richard III: 2.89%, Love’s Labor’s Lost: 35.08%, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 26.81%, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 19.75%])
  • 499 rhyming lines (16.61% of total lines [as opposed to Comedy: 20.10%, Titus: 2.42%, Taming: 3.93%, 1HenryVI: 9.79%, 2HenryVI: 3.16%, 3HenryVI: 5.37%, Richard III: 7.55%, LLL: 40.86%, 2Gents: 35.08%, and Midsummer: 43.5%])
  • 26 scenes; more than average (average play: 21; average tragedy: 23)
  • only 33 characters (slightly less than average, less than average for tragedy [average play: 36, average tragedy: 41])

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