HISTORIES PROBLEM PLAYSCOMEDIES TRAGEDIES ROMANCES
0
25
50
75character count
34
C of E
1 Hen
ry VI
2 Hen
ry VI
3 Hen
ry VI
Shre
w
Titus
Two G
ents
Rich
ard I
II
LLL
R & J
Mid
sum
mer
Rich
ard I
I
King
John
Mer
chan
t
1 Hen
ry IV
2 Hen
ry IV
Henr
y V
Muc
h Ado
Mer
ry W
ives
As Yo
u Lik
e It
Caes
ar
Ham
let
12th
Nig
ht
T & C
All's
Well
Mea
sure
Othe
llo
King
Lear
Mac
beth
A & C
Timon
Peric
les
Corio
lanu
s
Cym
belin
e
Win
ter's
Tem
pest
Hamlet
Shakespeare’s
BY THE NUMBERS
Act One: 852 lineslonger than average (average play: 582, average tragedy: 660)
Act Two: 663 lineslonger than average play (average play: 567, average tragedy: 606)
Act Three: 895 lineslongest of all plays; thus longer than average play (576) and average tragedy (644)
Act Four: 643 lineslonger than average (average play: 560, average tragedy: 547)
Act Five: 675 lineslonger than average (average play: 484, average tragedy: 478)
Hamlet: By the Numbers by The Bill/Shakespeare Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.Based on a work at http://thebillshakespeareproject.com/2015/05/hamlet-by-the-numbers.
CREDITS:sources: work-speci�c: Holland, Peter, ed. 1999. Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare, William. New York: Penguin. by comparison: assorted plays, Shakespeare, William. New York: Penguin.
design:Bill Walthall, FireMuse Publishing
Hamlet
3.753.75
4.00
4.50
4.00
romances
avg. 20.00
5.00
4.22
5.22
5.89
3.78
tragedies
avg. 24.11
3.20
4.60
4.60
4.20
3.80
problem plays
avg. 20.40
3.89
4.11
4.675.89
5.78
histories
avg. 24.33
3.00
3.44
3.11
3.56
2.78
comedies
avg. 15.89
20 scenes
5
4
2
7 2
3.83
4.03
4.39
4.86
4.03
overall
avg. 21.14
scenes by act
Hamlet
3.75572.0
493.0
450.5
610.25
532.5
romances
avg. 2658.25
659.9
606.3
644.1
547.0
478.9
tragedies
avg. 2936.22
564.4
588.2
571.6
558.2
448.8
problem plays
avg. 2731.2
611.6
620.7
631.9
651.1
499.0
histories
avg. 3014.22
487.6
494.9
512.1
459.6
470.6
comedies
avg. 2424.67
3728 lines
852
663895
643
675
581.7
566.9
576.5
559.8
483.6
overall
avg. 2768.47
lines by act
3.75
527.5
1924.0
206.75
romances
avg. 2658.25
482.7
2308.7
144.9
tragedies
avg. 2936.22
140.2
931.2
1659.8
problem plays
avg. 2731.2
548.1
2284.4
181.7histories
avg. 3014.22
361.3
930.91132.4
comedies
avg. 2424.67
Hamlet
3728 lines
2698183 rhyme
1030 prose
728.75
1825.3
214.42overall
avg. 2768.47
lines by type
verse
TYPES OF LINES
proserhymedpoetry
1030 lines of prose 27.33% of total lines; about average for a play (26.32%), more than average tragedy: 16.44%)
183 rhyming lines 4.91% of total lines, lower than the average play (8.35%) and tragedy (5.09%)
ON
EACTS
THRE
E
TWO
FOU
R
FIVE
[by gradation]
20 scenes abut average for plays (21), less than average tragedy (24)
34 characters about average for play (36), less than average tragedy (39)
3728 total linesthe longest of all plays, thus longer than the average (average play: 2768; average tragedy (2938)Act Two, Scene Two is the longest of its kind in the Canon (544)
A mourning son, who would be king.
A ghost of his father, who had been king.
His murderous uncle, who is king.
Revenge, a play, and madness--both feigned and all-too (and suicidal-ly) real. It's the Tragedy of Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark.
thebillshakespeareproject.com
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