# The Two Gentlemen of Verona: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare. 17 speaking roles, 16,784 words, about 120 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-two-gentlemen-of-verona
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Proteus** has the most to say in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: about 439 lines and 3,260 words, 19.4% of the play. The Two Gentlemen of Verona follows two friends, Proteus and Valentine, whose friendship is tested when both fall for Silvia. Proteus is the largest part and speaks in 11 of 20 sections, while Valentine’s slightly smaller share is packed into just 6. Julia, who follows Proteus disguised as a page, has about twice as many words as Silvia.

- Speaking roles: 17
- Scenes: 20
- Words: 16,784
- Speech time: 120 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Proteus | 439 | 3,260 | 19.4% | 23.3 | 11 |
| Valentine | 385 | 2,819 | 16.8% | 20.1 | 6 |
| Julia | 321 | 2,415 | 14.4% | 17.3 | 7 |
| Launce | 214 | 1,842 | 11% | 13.2 | 4 |
| Duke | 200 | 1,529 | 9.1% | 10.9 | 5 |
| Speed | 197 | 1,456 | 8.7% | 10.4 | 6 |
| Silvia | 155 | 1,138 | 6.8% | 8.1 | 8 |
| Lucetta | 74 | 558 | 3.3% | 4.0 | 2 |
| Thurio | 56 | 382 | 2.3% | 2.7 | 5 |
| Panthino | 43 | 311 | 1.9% | 2.2 | 3 |
| Antonio | 35 | 262 | 1.6% | 1.9 | 1 |
| Third Outlaw | 26 | 203 | 1.2% | 1.5 | 2 |
| Eglamour | 28 | 192 | 1.1% | 1.4 | 2 |
| Host | 23 | 158 | 0.9% | 1.1 | 1 |
| First Outlaw | 21 | 153 | 0.9% | 1.1 | 2 |
| Second Outlaw | 15 | 100 | 0.6% | 0.7 | 2 |
| Outlaws | 1 | 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; 2.4 = Act 2, Scene 4; 2.5 = Act 2, Scene 5; 2.6 = Act 2, Scene 6; 2.7 = Act 2, Scene 7; 3.1 = Act 3, Scene 1; 3.2 = Act 3, Scene 2; 4.1 = Act 4, Scene 1; 4.2 = Act 4, Scene 2; 4.3 = Act 4, Scene 3; 4.4 = Act 4, Scene 4; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2; 5.3 = Act 5, Scene 3; 5.4 = Act 5, Scene 4.

- **Proteus**: 1.1 (444), 1.3 (223), 2.2 (122), 2.4 (364), 2.6 (325), 3.1 (543), 3.2 (306), 4.2 (324), 4.4 (225), 5.2 (96), 5.4 (288)
- **Valentine**: 1.1 (335), 2.1 (377), 2.4 (801), 3.1 (597), 4.1 (144), 5.4 (565)
- **Julia**: 1.2 (673), 2.2 (30), 2.7 (557), 4.2 (168), 4.4 (766), 5.2 (80), 5.4 (141)
- **Launce**: 2.3 (432), 2.5 (235), 3.1 (693), 4.4 (482)
- **Duke**: 2.4 (129), 3.1 (820), 3.2 (305), 5.2 (126), 5.4 (149)
- **Speed**: 1.1 (357), 2.1 (721), 2.4 (14), 2.5 (139), 3.1 (198), 4.1 (27)
- **Silvia**: 2.1 (142), 2.4 (158), 4.2 (215), 4.3 (225), 4.4 (200), 5.1 (21), 5.3 (22), 5.4 (155)
- **Lucetta**: 1.2 (409), 2.7 (149)
- **Thurio**: 2.4 (89), 3.2 (108), 4.2 (40), 5.2 (104), 5.4 (41)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Launce: “When a man’s servant shall play the cur with him, look you, it goes hard: one that I brought up of a puppy; one that I saved from drowning, when three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it. I have taught him, even as one would say precisely, “thus I would teach a dog.” I was sent to deliver him as a present to Mistress Silvia from my master; and I came no sooner into the dining-chamber but he steps me to her trencher and steals her capon’s leg: O, ’tis a foul thing when a cur cannot keep himself in all companies! I would have, as one should say, one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed, to be, as it were, a dog at all things. If I had not had more wit than he, to take a fault upon me that he did, I think verily he had been hanged for’t; sure as I live, he had suffered for’t; you shall judge. He thrusts me himself into the company of three or four gentlemanlike dogs under the duke’s table: he had not been there—bless the mark!—a pissing while, but all the chamber smelt him. “Out with the dog!” says one: “What cur is that?” says another: “Whip him out” says the third: “Hang him up” says the duke. I, having been acquainted with the smell before, knew it was Crab, and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs: “Friend,” quoth I, “you mean to whip the dog?” “Ay, marry, do I,” quoth he. “You do him the more wrong,” quoth I; “ ’twas I did the thing you wot of.” He makes me no more ado, but whips me out of the chamber. How many masters would do this for his servant? Nay, I’ll be sworn, I have sat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had been executed; I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for’t. Thou thinkest not of this now. Nay, I remember the trick you served me when I took my leave of Madam Silvia: did not I bid thee still mark me and do as I do? when didst thou see me heave up my leg and make water against a gentlewoman’s farthingale? didst thou ever see me do such a trick?” | Act 4, Scene 4 | 400 | 40 |
| Launce: “Nay, ’twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the Imperial’s court. I think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog: a Jew would have wept to have seen our parting; why, my grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I’ll show you the manner of it. This shoe is my father: no, this left shoe is my father: no, no, this left shoe is my mother: nay, that cannot be so neither: yes, it is so, it is so, it hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father; a vengeance on’t! there ’tis: now, sit, this staff is my sister, for, look you, she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand: this hat is Nan, our maid: I am the dog: no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog—Oh! the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so, so. Now come I to my father; Father, your blessing: now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping: now should I kiss my father; well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother: O, that she could speak now like a wood woman! Well, I kiss her; why, there ’tis; here’s my mother’s breath up and down. Now come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes. Now the dog all this while sheds not a tear nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.” | Act 2, Scene 3 | 340 | 34 |
| Proteus: “To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn;” | Act 2, Scene 6 | 325 | 43 |
| Duke: “How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak?” | Act 3, Scene 1 | 284 | 35 |
| Julia: “And she shall thank you for’t, if e’er you know her.” | Act 4, Scene 4 | 226 | 27 |
| Julia: “Nay, would I were so anger’d with the same!” | Act 1, Scene 2 | 202 | 26 |
| Silvia: “O Eglamour, thou art a gentleman—” | Act 4, Scene 3 | 199 | 26 |
| Proteus: “I will.” | Act 2, Scene 4 | 189 | 24 |
| Launce: “I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think my master is a kind of a knave: but that’s all one, if he be but one knave. He lives not now that knows me to be in love; yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me; nor who ’tis I love; and yet ’tis a woman; but what woman, I will not tell myself; and yet ’tis a milkmaid; yet ’tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips; yet ’tis a maid, for she is her master’s maid, and serves for wages. She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel; which is much in a bare Christian. Here is the cate-log of her condition. “Imprimis: She can fetch and carry.” Why, a horse can do no more: nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only carry; therefore is she better than a jade. “Item: She can milk;” look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.” | Act 3, Scene 1 | 171 | 18 |
| Julia: “How many women would do such a message?” | Act 4, Scene 4 | 162 | 20 |

## 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.

- Lucetta and Thurio
- Lucetta and Panthino
- Lucetta and Antonio
- Lucetta and Third Outlaw
- Lucetta and Eglamour
- Lucetta and Host
- Lucetta and First Outlaw
- Lucetta and Second Outlaw
- Lucetta and Outlaws
- Thurio and Panthino
- Thurio and Antonio
- Thurio and Third Outlaw

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in The Two Gentlemen of Verona?

Proteus, with about 439 lines and 3,260 words, 19.4% of everything spoken in the play. Valentine is next, with about 385 lines (16.8%).

### How long is The Two Gentlemen of Verona?

The full text has 16,784 spoken words, about 120 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 The Two Gentlemen of Verona?

17 named roles speak in this edition, across 20 scenes. 8 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/the-two-gentlemen-of-verona) (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).