# Love’s Labour’s Lost: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare. 19 speaking roles, 21,030 words, about 150 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/loves-labours-lost
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Biron** has the most to say in Love’s Labour’s Lost: about 615 lines and 4,792 words, 22.8% of the play. Love’s Labour’s Lost follows a king and three lords who swear off women for three years of study, just as a princess and her ladies arrive. Biron is by far the largest part, with more than a fifth of the words and about twice the King’s share. The play has only nine sections, and all eight of the largest roles speak in the long final scene, Act 5, Scene 2.

- Speaking roles: 19
- Scenes: 9
- Words: 21,030
- Speech time: 150 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Biron | 615 | 4,792 | 22.8% | 34.2 | 5 |
| King | 306 | 2,369 | 11.3% | 16.9 | 4 |
| Princess | 288 | 2,167 | 10.3% | 15.5 | 3 |
| Armado | 245 | 1,932 | 9.2% | 13.8 | 4 |
| Boyet | 227 | 1,778 | 8.5% | 12.7 | 3 |
| Costard | 185 | 1,534 | 7.3% | 11.0 | 8 |
| Rosaline | 177 | 1,386 | 6.6% | 9.9 | 3 |
| Holofernes | 157 | 1,300 | 6.2% | 9.3 | 3 |
| Moth | 151 | 1,106 | 5.3% | 7.9 | 4 |
| Dumain | 80 | 544 | 2.6% | 3.9 | 4 |
| Nathaniel | 57 | 521 | 2.5% | 3.7 | 3 |
| Longaville | 71 | 517 | 2.5% | 3.7 | 4 |
| Katharine | 46 | 358 | 1.7% | 2.6 | 2 |
| Maria | 42 | 321 | 1.5% | 2.3 | 3 |
| Dull | 28 | 235 | 1.1% | 1.7 | 4 |
| Jaquenetta | 17 | 100 | 0.5% | 0.7 | 3 |
| Forester | 5 | 35 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Mercade | 4 | 28 | 0.1% | 0.2 | 1 |
| First Lord | 2 | 7 | 0% | 0.1 | 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; 2.1 = Act 2, Scene 1; 3.1 = Act 3, Scene 1; 4.1 = Act 4, Scene 1; 4.2 = Act 4, Scene 2; 4.3 = Act 4, Scene 3; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2.

- **Biron**: 1.1 (989), 2.1 (104), 3.1 (366), 4.3 (1,908), 5.2 (1,425)
- **King**: 1.1 (822), 2.1 (352), 4.3 (596), 5.2 (599)
- **Princess**: 2.1 (483), 4.1 (396), 5.2 (1,288)
- **Armado**: 1.2 (645), 3.1 (379), 5.1 (347), 5.2 (561)
- **Boyet**: 2.1 (515), 4.1 (518), 5.2 (745)
- **Costard**: 1.1 (277), 1.2 (105), 3.1 (309), 4.1 (242), 4.2 (15), 4.3 (23), 5.1 (110), 5.2 (453)
- **Rosaline**: 2.1 (208), 4.1 (79), 5.2 (1,099)
- **Holofernes**: 4.2 (811), 5.1 (382), 5.2 (107)
- **Moth**: 1.2 (433), 3.1 (439), 5.1 (145), 5.2 (89)
- **Dumain**: 1.1 (50), 2.1 (18), 4.3 (292), 5.2 (184)
- **Nathaniel**: 4.2 (404), 5.1 (76), 5.2 (41)
- **Longaville**: 1.1 (109), 2.1 (41), 4.3 (260), 5.2 (107)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Biron: “’Tis more than need.” | Act 4, Scene 3 | 588 | 77 |
| Boyet: ““By heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely. More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, Veni, vidi, vici; which to annothanize in the vulgar—O base and obscure vulgar!—videlicet, He came, saw, and overcame: he came, one; saw two; overcame, three. Who came? the king: why did he come? to see: why did he see? to overcome: to whom came he? to the beggar: what saw he? the beggar: who overcame he? the beggar. The conclusion is victory: on whose side? the king’s. The captive is enriched: on whose side? the beggar’s. The catastrophe is a nuptial: on whose side? the king’s: no, on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands the comparison: thou the beggar; for so witnesseth thy lowliness. Shall I command thy love? I may: shall I enforce thy love? I could: shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; for tittles? titles; for thyself? me. Thus, expecting thy reply, I profane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture, and my heart on thy every part. Thine, in the dearest design of industry,” | Act 4, Scene 1 | 292 | 31 |
| Biron: “And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love’s whip;” | Act 3, Scene 1 | 247 | 32 |
| Boyet: “Under the cool shade of a sycamore” | Act 5, Scene 2 | 237 | 30 |
| Armado: “Holla! approach.” | Act 5, Scene 2 | 225 | 23 |
| Biron: “The king he is hunting the deer; I am coursing myself: they have pitched a toil; I am toiling in a pitch—pitch that defiles: defile! a foul word. Well, set thee down, sorrow! for so they say the fool said, and so say I, and I the fool: well proved, wit! By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: it kills sheep; it kills me, I a sheep: well proved again o’ my side! I will not love: if I do, hang me; i’ faith, I will not. O, but her eye—by this light, but for her eye, I would not love her; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do love: and it hath taught me to rhyme and to be melancholy; and here is part of my rhyme, and here my melancholy. Well, she hath one o’ my sonnets already: the clown bore it, the fool sent it, and the lady hath it: sweet clown, sweeter fool, sweetest lady! By the world, I would not care a pin, if the other three were in. Here comes one with a paper: God give him grace to groan!” | Act 4, Scene 3 | 207 | 21 |
| Armado: “Sir, the king is a noble gentleman, and my familiar, I do assure ye, very good friend: for what is inward between us, let it pass. I do beseech thee, remember thy courtesy; I beseech thee, apparel thy head: and among other important and most serious designs, and of great import indeed, too, but let that pass: for I must tell thee, it will please his grace, by the world, sometime to lean upon my poor shoulder, and with his royal finger, thus, dally with my excrement, with my mustachio; but, sweet heart, let that pass. By the world, I recount no fable: some certain special honours it pleaseth his greatness to impart to Armado, a soldier, a man of travel, that hath seen the world; but let that pass. The very all of all is—but, sweet heart, I do implore secrecy—that the king would have me present the princess, sweet chuck, with some delightful ostentation, or show, or pageant, or antique, or firework. Now, understanding that the curate and your sweet self are good at such eruptions and sudden breaking out of mirth, as it were, I have acquainted you withal, to the end to crave your assistance.” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 201 | 21 |
| Biron: “Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy.” | Act 4, Scene 3 | 194 | 24 |
| Princess: “A time, methinks, too short” | Act 5, Scene 2 | 191 | 25 |
| King: “Madam, your father here doth intimate” | Act 2, Scene 1 | 188 | 25 |

## 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.

- Dumain and Forester
- Nathaniel and Forester
- Nathaniel and First Lord
- Longaville and Forester
- Katharine and Dull
- Katharine and Jaquenetta
- Katharine and Forester
- Maria and Dull
- Maria and Jaquenetta
- Dull and Forester
- Dull and Mercade
- Dull and First Lord

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in Love’s Labour’s Lost?

Biron, with about 615 lines and 4,792 words, 22.8% of everything spoken in the play. King is next, with about 306 lines (11.3%).

### How long is Love’s Labour’s Lost?

The full text has 21,030 spoken words, about 150 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 Love’s Labour’s Lost?

19 named roles speak in this edition, across 9 scenes. 7 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/loves-labours-lost) (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).