# Much Ado About Nothing: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare. 23 speaking roles, 20,707 words, about 148 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Benedick** has the most to say in Much Ado About Nothing: about 441 lines and 3,736 words, 18% of the play. Much Ado About Nothing pairs two plots: the sparring Benedick and Beatrice, tricked into love, and the young lovers Claudio and Hero, parted by a slander. Benedick is the largest part, at about 18% of the words, while Beatrice has about 11%, slightly less than Leonato and Don Pedro. Hero has under 5% despite being at the center of the Claudio plot.

- Speaking roles: 23
- Scenes: 17
- Words: 20,707
- Speech time: 148 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Benedick](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/benedick) | 441 | 3,736 | 18% | 26.7 | 8 |
| [Leonato](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/leonato) | 333 | 2,630 | 12.7% | 18.8 | 9 |
| [Don Pedro](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/don-pedro) | 316 | 2,456 | 11.9% | 17.5 | 8 |
| [Beatrice](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/beatrice) | 284 | 2,359 | 11.4% | 16.9 | 8 |
| Claudio | 267 | 1,952 | 9.4% | 13.9 | 8 |
| [Dogberry](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/dogberry) | 174 | 1,525 | 7.4% | 10.9 | 4 |
| Borachio | 120 | 992 | 4.8% | 7.1 | 6 |
| Hero | 132 | 981 | 4.7% | 7.0 | 6 |
| Don John | 110 | 898 | 4.3% | 6.4 | 6 |
| Friar | 81 | 590 | 2.8% | 4.2 | 2 |
| Margaret | 65 | 545 | 2.6% | 3.9 | 4 |
| Antonio | 55 | 424 | 2% | 3.0 | 4 |
| Ursula | 48 | 362 | 1.7% | 2.6 | 4 |
| Conrade | 35 | 247 | 1.2% | 1.8 | 3 |
| Messenger | 29 | 227 | 1.1% | 1.6 | 3 |
| Verges | 25 | 183 | 0.9% | 1.3 | 4 |
| Balthasar | 28 | 181 | 0.9% | 1.3 | 2 |
| Sexton | 14 | 105 | 0.5% | 0.8 | 1 |
| Watch | 16 | 101 | 0.5% | 0.7 | 1 |
| First Watch | 11 | 80 | 0.4% | 0.6 | 2 |
| Second Watch | 9 | 62 | 0.3% | 0.4 | 2 |
| A Lord | 10 | 61 | 0.3% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Boy | 2 | 6 | 0% | 0.0 | 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; 2.1 = Act 2, Scene 1; 2.2 = Act 2, Scene 2; 2.3 = Act 2, Scene 3; 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; 4.1 = Act 4, Scene 1; 4.2 = Act 4, Scene 2; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2; 5.3 = Act 5, Scene 3; 5.4 = Act 5, Scene 4.

- **Benedick**: 1.1 (806), 2.1 (672), 2.3 (782), 3.2 (57), 4.1 (330), 5.1 (196), 5.2 (491), 5.4 (402)
- **Leonato**: 1.1 (248), 1.2 (100), 2.1 (258), 2.3 (345), 3.2 (28), 3.5 (93), 4.1 (545), 5.1 (821), 5.4 (192)
- **Don Pedro**: 1.1 (478), 2.1 (467), 2.3 (480), 3.2 (353), 4.1 (86), 5.1 (493), 5.3 (57), 5.4 (42)
- **Beatrice**: 1.1 (442), 2.1 (985), 2.3 (63), 3.1 (80), 3.4 (120), 4.1 (420), 5.2 (168), 5.4 (81)
- **Claudio**: 1.1 (276), 2.1 (187), 2.3 (259), 3.2 (208), 4.1 (431), 5.1 (385), 5.3 (41), 5.4 (165)
- **Dogberry**: 3.3 (568), 3.5 (315), 4.2 (376), 5.1 (266)
- **Borachio**: 1.3 (102), 2.1 (22), 2.2 (299), 3.3 (374), 4.2 (11), 5.1 (184)
- **Hero**: 1.1 (7), 2.1 (74), 3.1 (616), 3.4 (103), 4.1 (127), 5.4 (54)
- **Don John**: 1.1 (13), 1.3 (353), 2.1 (84), 2.2 (115), 3.2 (273), 4.1 (60)
- **Friar**: 4.1 (535), 5.4 (55)
- **Margaret**: 2.1 (41), 3.1 (8), 3.4 (435), 5.2 (61)
- **Antonio**: 1.2 (115), 2.1 (39), 5.1 (243), 5.4 (27)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Benedick: “I know that; but I would have thee hence, and here again. I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love: and such a man is Claudio. I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe: I have known when he would have walked ten mile a-foot to see a good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier; and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool. One woman is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that’s certain; wise, or I’ll none; virtuous, or I’ll never cheapen her; fair, or I’ll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God. Ha! the prince and Monsieur Love! I will hide me in the arbour.” | Act 2, Scene 3 | 310 | 31 |
| Friar: “Marry, this well carried shall on her behalf” | Act 4, Scene 1 | 267 | 34 |
| Benedick: “This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it seems her affections have their full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending. They say the lady is fair; ’tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; ’tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour? No, the world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day! she’s a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.” | Act 2, Scene 3 | 259 | 26 |
| Leonato: “I pray thee, cease thy counsel,” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 235 | 30 |
| Benedick: “O, she misused me past the endurance of a block! an oak but with one green leaf on it would have answered her; my very visor began to assume life and scold with her. She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the prince’s jester, that I was duller than a great thaw; huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs: if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her; she would infect to the north star. I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed: she would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too. Come, talk not of her: you shall find her the infernal Ate in good apparel. I would to God some scholar would conjure her; for certainly, while she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a sanctuary; and people sin upon purpose, because they would go thither; so, indeed, all disquiet, horror, and perturbation follows her.” | Act 2, Scene 1 | 211 | 22 |
| Leonato: “Wherefore! Why, doth not every earthly thing” | Act 4, Scene 1 | 199 | 24 |
| Borachio: “Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and the Count Claudio alone: tell them that you know that Hero loves me; intend a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio, as—in love of your brother’s honour, who hath made this match, and his friend’s reputation, who is thus like to be cozened with the semblance of a maid—that you have discovered thus. They will scarcely believe this without trial: offer them instances; which shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber window, hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me Claudio; and bring them to see this the very night before the intended wedding—for in the meantime I will so fashion the matter that Hero shall be absent—and there shall appear such seeming truth of Hero’s disloyalty that jealousy shall be called assurance and all the preparation overthrown.” | Act 2, Scene 2 | 153 | 16 |
| Benedick: “And therefore will come.” | Act 5, Scene 2 | 139 | 14 |
| Dogberry: “Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not suspect my years? O that he were here to write me down an ass! But, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow, and, which is more, an officer, and, which is more, a householder, and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Messina, and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses, and one that hath two gowns and everything handsome about him. Bring him away. O that I had been writ down an ass!” | Act 4, Scene 2 | 138 | 14 |
| Margaret: “Moral! no, by my troth, I have no moral meaning; I meant, plain holy thistle. You may think perchance that I think you are in love: nay, by’r Lady, I am not such a fool to think what I list, nor I list not to think what I can, nor indeed I cannot think, if I would think my heart out of thinking, that you are in love or that you will be in love or that you can be in love. Yet Benedick was such another, and now is he become a man: he swore he would never marry, and yet now, in despite of his heart, he eats his meat without grudging: and how you may be converted I know not, but methinks you look with your eyes as other women do.” | Act 3, Scene 4 | 134 | 14 |

## 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.

- Borachio and Friar
- Borachio and Messenger
- Borachio and A Lord
- Borachio and Boy
- Hero and Conrade
- Hero and Verges
- Hero and Sexton
- Hero and Watch
- Hero and First Watch
- Hero and Second Watch
- Hero and A Lord
- Hero and Boy

## Roles and monologues in depth

- [How many lines does Benedick have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/benedick)
- [How many lines does Beatrice have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/beatrice)
- [How many lines does Leonato have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/leonato)
- [How many lines does Don Pedro have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/don-pedro)
- [How many lines does Dogberry have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/much-ado-about-nothing/dogberry)

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in Much Ado About Nothing?

Benedick, with about 441 lines and 3,736 words, 18% of everything spoken in the play. Leonato is next, with about 333 lines (12.7%).

### How long is Much Ado About Nothing?

The full text has 20,707 spoken words, about 148 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 Much Ado About Nothing?

23 named roles speak in this edition, across 17 scenes. 11 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/much-ado-about-nothing) (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).