Julius Caesar
So here’s the numerical breakdown…
- 2451 total lines; shorter than the average (average play: 2768, average tragedy: 2936)
- Act Two, Scene Three, and Act Five, Scene Two are the shortest of their kind in the Canon (16 and 6 lines respectively)
- No scenes are the longest of its kind in the Canon
- Act One: 561 lines; shorter than average (average play: 582, average tragedy: 660)
- Act Two: 526 lines; shorter than average play (average play: 567, average tragedy: 606)
- Act Three: 602 lines; longer than average play (576), but shorter than the average tragedy (644)
- Act Four: 409 lines; MUCH shorter than average (average play: 560, average tragedy: 547)
- Act Five: 353 lines; the shortest of all tragedies; much shorter than average (average play: 484, average tragedy: 478)
- 189 lines of prose (7.47% of total lines, which is much less than average [play:26.32%; tragedy: 16.44%]); compare with 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%, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 19.75%, Romeo and Juliet: 14.18%, King John: 0.0%, The Merchant of Venice: 21.79%, Richard II: 0%, 1HenryIV: 44.7%, 2HenryIV: 50.36%, HenryV: 40.89%, Merry Wives: 88.20%, As You Like It: 56.12%, and Much Ado: 77.78%)
- 10 rhyming lines (0.41% of total lines, which is lowest of all the plays [compare to the average play:26.32%; tragedy: 16.44%; only Antony and Cleopatra will come close with 0.99%]; compared 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%, Midsummer: 43.5%, Romeo: 16.61%, King John: 6.19%, Merchant: 5.16%, Richard II: 18.95%, 1HenryIV: 1.04%, 2HenryIV: 2.32%, HenryV: 1.80%, Merry Wives: 3.79%, As You Like It: 10.87%, and Much Ado: 2.43%)
- 17 scenes; fewer than average (average play: 21; average tragedy: 24)
- 49 characters; more than average (average play: 36; average tragedy: 39)
Check out our “by the numbers” breakdown as an infographic!
[download the pdf (534 kB)]
Also, the below graphic gives a representation of which characters appear in what scenes in the play.
