# King Lear: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare. 25 speaking roles, 25,243 words, about 180 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**King Lear** has the most to say in King Lear: about 751 lines and 5,623 words, 22.3% of the play. King Lear follows an aging king who divides his kingdom and is turned out by the daughters he rewarded. King Lear holds just over a fifth of the words, and the rest is widely shared: Edgar, Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund each have about a tenth. Lear is offstage from Act 3, Scene 7 until Act 4, Scene 6, and the Fool speaks for the last time in Act 3, Scene 6.

- Speaking roles: 25
- Scenes: 26
- Words: 25,243
- Speech time: 180 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [King Lear](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/king-lear) | 751 | 5,623 | 22.3% | 40.2 | 10 |
| [Edgar](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/edgar) | 384 | 2,859 | 11.3% | 20.4 | 10 |
| [Kent](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/kent) | 362 | 2,604 | 10.3% | 18.6 | 12 |
| Gloucester | 332 | 2,533 | 10% | 18.1 | 12 |
| Edmund | 308 | 2,371 | 9.4% | 16.9 | 9 |
| Fool | 222 | 1,678 | 6.6% | 12.0 | 6 |
| [Goneril](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/goneril) | 200 | 1,478 | 5.9% | 10.6 | 8 |
| Regan | 190 | 1,370 | 5.4% | 9.8 | 8 |
| Albany | 158 | 1,046 | 4.1% | 7.5 | 4 |
| [Cordelia](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/cordelia) | 117 | 823 | 3.3% | 5.9 | 4 |
| Cornwall | 104 | 738 | 2.9% | 5.3 | 5 |
| Gentleman | 84 | 575 | 2.3% | 4.1 | 7 |
| Oswald | 77 | 500 | 2% | 3.6 | 7 |
| King of France | 32 | 240 | 1% | 1.7 | 1 |
| Messenger | 19 | 125 | 0.5% | 0.9 | 2 |
| Doctor | 18 | 123 | 0.5% | 0.9 | 2 |
| Knight | 13 | 105 | 0.4% | 0.8 | 1 |
| Curan | 9 | 77 | 0.3% | 0.6 | 1 |
| First servant | 9 | 76 | 0.3% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Burgundy | 12 | 68 | 0.3% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Herald | 10 | 59 | 0.2% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Old man | 11 | 59 | 0.2% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Third servant | 5 | 39 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Second servant | 5 | 36 | 0.1% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Captain | 6 | 35 | 0.1% | 0.3 | 1 |

## Who speaks in which scene

Words each role speaks in each scene (scene: words). Scenes: 1.1 = Act 1, Scene 1; 1.2 = Act 1, Scene 2; 1.3 = Act 1, Scene 3; 1.4 = Act 1, Scene 4; 1.5 = Act 1, Scene 5; 2.1 = Act 2, Scene 1; 2.2 = Act 2, Scene 2; 2.3 = Act 2, Scene 3; 2.4 = Act 2, Scene 4; 3.1 = Act 3, Scene 1; 3.2 = Act 3, Scene 2; 3.3 = Act 3, Scene 3; 3.4 = Act 3, Scene 4; 3.5 = Act 3, Scene 5; 3.6 = Act 3, Scene 6; 3.7 = Act 3, Scene 7; 4.1 = Act 4, Scene 1; 4.2 = Act 4, Scene 2; 4.3 = Act 4, Scene 3; 4.4 = Act 4, Scene 4; 4.5 = Act 4, Scene 5; 4.6 = Act 4, Scene 6; 4.7 = Act 4, Scene 7; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2; 5.3 = Act 5, Scene 3.

- **King Lear**: 1.1 (909), 1.4 (854), 1.5 (112), 2.4 (1,204), 3.2 (307), 3.4 (496), 3.6 (224), 4.6 (822), 4.7 (262), 5.3 (433)
- **Edgar**: 1.2 (50), 2.1 (7), 2.3 (153), 3.4 (556), 3.6 (313), 4.1 (252), 4.6 (827), 5.1 (86), 5.2 (73), 5.3 (542)
- **Kent**: 1.1 (306), 1.4 (251), 1.5 (12), 2.2 (730), 2.4 (190), 3.1 (313), 3.2 (123), 3.4 (119), 3.6 (103), 4.3 (203), 4.7 (100), 5.3 (154)
- **Gloucester**: 1.1 (194), 1.2 (442), 2.1 (212), 2.2 (112), 2.4 (78), 3.3 (176), 3.4 (182), 3.6 (122), 3.7 (254), 4.1 (337), 4.6 (406), 5.2 (18)
- **Edmund**: 1.1 (13), 1.2 (970), 2.1 (451), 2.2 (5), 3.3 (44), 3.5 (108), 4.2 (6), 5.1 (220), 5.3 (554)
- **Fool**: 1.4 (691), 1.5 (217), 2.4 (319), 3.2 (269), 3.4 (84), 3.6 (98)
- **Goneril**: 1.1 (238), 1.3 (208), 1.4 (498), 2.4 (103), 3.7 (9), 4.2 (286), 5.1 (40), 5.3 (96)
- **Regan**: 1.1 (114), 2.1 (175), 2.2 (51), 2.4 (446), 3.7 (122), 4.5 (253), 5.1 (92), 5.3 (117)
- **Albany**: 1.4 (71), 4.2 (277), 5.1 (103), 5.3 (595)
- **Cordelia**: 1.1 (335), 4.4 (171), 4.7 (280), 5.3 (37)
- **Cornwall**: 2.1 (104), 2.2 (207), 2.4 (74), 3.5 (84), 3.7 (269)
- **Gentleman**: 1.5 (3), 2.4 (25), 3.1 (122), 4.3 (229), 4.6 (105), 4.7 (57), 5.3 (34)
- **Oswald**: 1.3 (10), 1.4 (25), 2.2 (174), 3.7 (46), 4.2 (78), 4.5 (59), 4.6 (108)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Kent: “Sir, I do know you;” | Act 3, Scene 1 | 203 | 26 |
| King Lear: “O, reason not the need: our basest beggars” | Act 2, Scene 4 | 191 | 23 |
| Edgar: “Sit you down, father; rest you” | Act 4, Scene 6 | 186 | 22 |
| Edmund: “This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon’s tail; and my nativity was under Ursa major; so that it follows, I am rough and lecherous. Tut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar—” | Act 1, Scene 2 | 173 | 18 |
| King Lear: “Ay, every inch a king:” | Act 4, Scene 6 | 170 | 24 |
| Edmund: “Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law” | Act 1, Scene 2 | 165 | 22 |
| Edgar: “A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served the lust of my mistress’ heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it: wine loved I deeply, dice dearly: and in woman out-paramoured the Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders’ books, and defy the foul fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind: Says suum, mun, ha, no, nonny. Dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa! let him trot by.” | Act 3, Scene 4 | 159 | 16 |
| King Lear: “The king would speak with Cornwall; the dear father” | Act 2, Scene 4 | 157 | 19 |
| Fool: “We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there’s no labouring i’ the winter. All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men; and there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it: but the great one that goes up the hill, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again: I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.” | Act 2, Scene 4 | 154 | 19 |
| King Lear: “Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.” | Act 1, Scene 1 | 153 | 19 |

## Small roles that can be doubled

These pairs of small roles never speak in the same scene, so one actor could play both. Check entrances and silent appearances in your script before you cast it this way.

- Albany and Cornwall
- Albany and King of France
- Albany and Doctor
- Albany and Curan
- Albany and First servant
- Albany and Burgundy
- Albany and Old man
- Albany and Third servant
- Albany and Second servant
- Cordelia and Cornwall
- Cordelia and Oswald
- Cordelia and Knight

## Roles and monologues in depth

- [How many lines does King Lear have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/king-lear)
- [How many lines does Edgar have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/edgar)
- [How many lines does Kent have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/kent)
- [How many lines does Cordelia have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/cordelia)
- [How many lines does Goneril have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/king-lear/goneril)

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in King Lear?

King Lear, with about 751 lines and 5,623 words, 22.3% of everything spoken in the play. Edgar is next, with about 384 lines (11.3%).

### How long is King Lear?

The full text has 25,243 spoken words, about 180 minutes at 140 words a minute before pauses, scene changes, and cuts. Most productions cut the text, so running times vary.

### How many speaking roles are in King Lear?

25 named roles speak in this edition, across 26 scenes. 12 of them have less than 2% of the words, which is why small parts are often doubled.

## How we count

Counts are computed from the full text of the [Standard Ebooks edition](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/king-lear) (public domain; retrieved 2026-10-08). Words are every spoken word, with stage directions removed. Lines are verse lines as printed, plus prose at 10 words a line, because prose has no fixed line breaks; editions differ, so other sources give slightly different line counts. Time is words at 140 words a minute, before pauses and stage business. A role is counted in a scene when it speaks there. To count a script that is not in the library, paste it into the [script line counter](https://www.offbook.com/tools/script-line-counter).