Measure for Measure
So here’s the numerical breakdown…
- 2594 total lines; slightly longer than the average (play: 2768; problem play: 2731)
- Act Five, Scenes One is the longest of its kind in the Canon
- Act Four, Scene Six is the shortest of is kind in the Canon
- Act One: 419 lines; slightly shorter than average (play: 582; problem play: 564); shortest first act of the problem plays
- Act Two: 687 lines; longer than average (play: 567, problem play: 588)
- Act Three: 536 lines; shorter than average (play: 576; problem play: 571); shortest of the problem plays
- Act Four: 415 lines; shorter than average (play: 560, problem play: 558)
- Act Five: 537 lines; longer than average (play: 484, problem play: 448)
- 1074 lines of prose (41.40% of total lines, which is much higher than the average [play: 26.32%; problem play: 34.16%]); 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%, Much Ado: 77.78%, Caesar: 7.47%, Twelfth: 64.44%, Hamlet: 27.33%, Troilus: 32.30% and All’s Well: 48.20%)
- 82 rhyming lines (3.16% of total lines, which is less than the average [play: 8.35% and problem play: 5.17%]; least among the problem plays); compare with 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%, Much Ado: 2.43%, Caesar: 0.41%, Twelfth: 6.09%, Hamlet: 4.91%, and Troilus: 5.40% and All’s Well: 9.05%)
- 17 scenes; less than average (plays: 21; problem play: 20); tied with Timon of Athens for least among the problem plays
- 24 characters; less than average (plays: 36; problem play: 32)
Check out our “by the numbers” breakdown as an infographic!
Also, the graphic below (which we’ve used in our pre-Thanksgiving doubling discussion) gives visual overview of representation of which characters appear in what scenes in the play.
