# The Two Noble Kinsmen: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. 35 speaking roles, 22,586 words, about 161 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-two-noble-kinsmen
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Palamon** has the most to say in The Two Noble Kinsmen: about 591 lines and 4,212 words, 18.6% of the play. Shakespeare and John Fletcher’s late play, drawn from Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, follows two cousins, Palamon and Arcite, who are captured together and fall in love with the same woman, Emilia. The two cousins hold about a third of the words between them. The Gaoler’s Daughter, who frees Palamon and goes mad for love of him, has a subplot of her own and almost as many words as Emilia, about 11% each, including several solo speeches.

- Speaking roles: 35
- Scenes: 24
- Words: 22,586
- Speech time: 161 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Palamon | 591 | 4,212 | 18.6% | 30.1 | 7 |
| Arcite | 514 | 3,629 | 16.1% | 25.9 | 10 |
| Emilia | 368 | 2,696 | 11.9% | 19.3 | 10 |
| Daughter | 310 | 2,558 | 11.3% | 18.3 | 9 |
| Theseus | 328 | 2,369 | 10.5% | 16.9 | 9 |
| Pirithous | 125 | 874 | 3.9% | 6.2 | 9 |
| Wooer | 104 | 753 | 3.3% | 5.4 | 4 |
| Gerrold | 106 | 749 | 3.3% | 5.4 | 1 |
| Gaoler | 119 | 725 | 3.2% | 5.2 | 6 |
| Hippolyta | 102 | 705 | 3.1% | 5.0 | 7 |
| Doctor | 87 | 660 | 2.9% | 4.7 | 2 |
| First Queen | 64 | 452 | 2% | 3.2 | 3 |
| Messenger | 49 | 353 | 1.6% | 2.5 | 3 |
| Second Queen | 40 | 274 | 1.2% | 2.0 | 3 |
| Third Queen | 37 | 254 | 1.1% | 1.8 | 3 |
| Second Countryman | 30 | 234 | 1% | 1.7 | 2 |
| Third Countryman | 25 | 161 | 0.7% | 1.2 | 2 |
| First Friend | 27 | 132 | 0.6% | 0.9 | 1 |
| Second Friend | 22 | 125 | 0.6% | 0.9 | 1 |
| First Countryman | 15 | 105 | 0.5% | 0.8 | 2 |
| Fourth Countryman | 17 | 103 | 0.5% | 0.7 | 2 |
| Valerius | 12 | 79 | 0.3% | 0.6 | 1 |
| First Servant | 13 | 71 | 0.3% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Woman | 14 | 66 | 0.3% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Herald | 9 | 62 | 0.3% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Brother | 10 | 44 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| First Knight | 7 | 40 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Second Knight | 4 | 20 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Gentleman | 4 | 18 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| All Queens | 3 | 10 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| All the Knights | 2 | 7 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Taborer | 1 | 7 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Nell | 1 | 4 | 0% | 0.0 | 1 |
| Third Knight | 1 | 3 | 0% | 0.0 | 1 |
| Bavian | 1 | 2 | 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; 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; 2.5 = Act 2, Scene 5; 2.6 = Act 2, Scene 6; 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; 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; 5.3 = Act 5, Scene 3; 5.4 = Act 5, Scene 4.

- **Palamon**: 1.2 (524), 2.2 (1,167), 3.1 (447), 3.3 (179), 3.6 (931), 5.1 (638), 5.4 (326)
- **Arcite**: 1.2 (329), 2.2 (824), 2.3 (301), 2.5 (164), 3.1 (583), 3.3 (295), 3.6 (744), 5.1 (325), 5.3 (26), 5.4 (38)
- **Emilia**: 1.1 (151), 1.3 (408), 2.2 (184), 2.5 (86), 3.5 (13), 3.6 (365), 4.2 (543), 5.1 (278), 5.3 (642), 5.4 (26)
- **Daughter**: 2.1 (218), 2.4 (286), 2.6 (344), 3.2 (335), 3.4 (235), 3.5 (79), 4.1 (318), 4.3 (353), 5.2 (390)
- **Theseus**: 1.1 (456), 1.4 (314), 2.5 (169), 3.5 (55), 3.6 (440), 4.2 (127), 5.1 (132), 5.3 (379), 5.4 (297)
- **Pirithous**: 1.1 (14), 1.3 (55), 2.5 (103), 3.5 (16), 3.6 (65), 4.2 (245), 5.1 (7), 5.3 (14), 5.4 (355)
- **Wooer**: 2.1 (30), 4.1 (502), 4.3 (33), 5.2 (188)
- **Gerrold**: 3.5 (749)
- **Gaoler**: 2.1 (241), 2.2 (106), 4.1 (160), 4.3 (87), 5.2 (113), 5.4 (18)
- **Hippolyta**: 1.1 (151), 1.3 (325), 2.5 (34), 3.5 (4), 3.6 (92), 4.2 (43), 5.3 (56)
- **Doctor**: 4.3 (385), 5.2 (275)
- **First Queen**: 1.1 (433), 1.4 (6), 1.5 (13)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Palamon: “Our stars must glister with new fire, or be” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 552 | 68 |
| Emilia: “Yet I may bind those wounds up, that must open” | Act 4, Scene 2 | 454 | 55 |
| Daughter: “Let all the dukes and all the devils roar,” | Act 2, Scene 6 | 344 | 39 |
| Daughter: “He has mistook the brake I meant; is gone” | Act 3, Scene 2 | 335 | 38 |
| Doctor: “That intemperate surfeit of her eye hath distemper’d the other senses: they may return and settle again to execute their preordained faculties; but they are now in a most extravagant vagary. This you must do: confine her to a place where the light may rather seem to steal in than be permitted. Take upon you, young sir, her friend, the name of Palamon; say you come to eat with her, and to commune of love; this will catch her attention, for this her mind beats upon; other objects, that are inserted ’tween her mind and eye, become the pranks and friskins of her madness: sing to her such green songs of love as she says Palamon hath sung in prison; come to her, stuck in as sweet flowers as the season is mistress of, and thereto make an addition of some other compounded odours, which are grateful to the sense; all this shall become Palamon, for Palamon can sing, and Palamon is sweet, and every good thing: desire to eat with her, carve her, drink to her, and still among intermingle your petition of grace and acceptance into her favour: learn what maids have been her companions and play-feres; and let them repair to her with Palamon in their mouths, and appear with tokens, as if they suggested for him. It is a falsehood she is in, which is with falsehoods to be combated. This may bring her to eat, to sleep, and reduce what’s now out of square in her into their former law and regiment: I have seen it approved, how many times I know not; but to make the number more I have great hope in this. I will, between the passages of this project, come in with my appliance. Let us put it in execution; and hasten the success, which, doubt not, will bring forth comfort.” | Act 4, Scene 3 | 310 | 31 |
| Pirithous: “List, then. Your cousin” | Act 5, Scene 4 | 308 | 38 |
| [Daughter: “Why should I love this gentleman? ’tis odds”](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/why-should-i-love-this-gentleman) | Act 2, Scene 4 | 286 | 33 |
| Arcite: “Farewell, sir!” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 279 | 36 |
| Emilia: “O sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen,” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 278 | 37 |
| Gerrold: “If you but favour, our country pastime made is.” | Act 3, Scene 5 | 261 | 33 |

## 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.

- Pirithous and Wooer
- Pirithous and Doctor
- Pirithous and First Friend
- Pirithous and Second Friend
- Pirithous and Valerius
- Pirithous and Woman
- Pirithous and Herald
- Pirithous and Brother
- Wooer and Gerrold
- Wooer and Hippolyta
- Wooer and First Queen
- Wooer and Second Queen

## Roles and monologues in depth

- [Daughter: Why should I love this gentleman? (the Gaoler’s Daughter)](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/why-should-i-love-this-gentleman)

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in The Two Noble Kinsmen?

Palamon, with about 591 lines and 4,212 words, 18.6% of everything spoken in the play. Arcite is next, with about 514 lines (16.1%).

### How long is The Two Noble Kinsmen?

The full text has 22,586 spoken words, about 161 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 Noble Kinsmen?

35 named roles speak in this edition, across 24 scenes. 23 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_john-fletcher/the-two-noble-kinsmen) (public domain; retrieved 2026-11-11). 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).