# Troilus and Cressida: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> William Shakespeare. 27 speaking roles, 25,263 words, about 181 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/troilus-and-cressida
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Troilus** has the most to say in Troilus and Cressida: about 536 lines and 3,953 words, 15.6% of the play. Troilus and Cressida sets the love of the Trojan prince Troilus and Cressida against the quarrels of the Greek camp during the Trojan War. The load is widely spread: Troilus leads with about 16% of the words, and Ulysses and Pandarus follow at about 14% and 13%. Cressida has fewer words than Thersites and speaks in only 6 of 24 sections.

- Speaking roles: 27
- Scenes: 24
- Words: 25,263
- Speech time: 181 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Troilus | 536 | 3,953 | 15.6% | 28.2 | 13 |
| Ulysses | 485 | 3,519 | 13.9% | 25.1 | 7 |
| Pandarus | 392 | 3,150 | 12.5% | 22.5 | 8 |
| Thersites | 271 | 2,289 | 9.1% | 16.4 | 7 |
| Cressida | 300 | 2,118 | 8.4% | 15.1 | 6 |
| Hector | 212 | 1,529 | 6.1% | 10.9 | 7 |
| Agamemnon | 193 | 1,396 | 5.5% | 10.0 | 7 |
| Achilles | 187 | 1,301 | 5.1% | 9.3 | 9 |
| Nestor | 159 | 1,136 | 4.5% | 8.1 | 6 |
| Aeneas | 144 | 1,044 | 4.1% | 7.5 | 8 |
| Paris | 98 | 722 | 2.9% | 5.2 | 5 |
| Diomedes | 103 | 693 | 2.7% | 5.0 | 11 |
| Ajax | 85 | 535 | 2.1% | 3.8 | 8 |
| Patroclus | 65 | 405 | 1.6% | 2.9 | 5 |
| Alexander | 33 | 260 | 1% | 1.9 | 1 |
| Cassandra | 37 | 259 | 1% | 1.9 | 2 |
| Calchas | 31 | 229 | 0.9% | 1.6 | 2 |
| Helen | 28 | 175 | 0.7% | 1.3 | 1 |
| Priam | 20 | 138 | 0.5% | 1.0 | 2 |
| Servant | 19 | 118 | 0.5% | 0.8 | 2 |
| Andromache | 15 | 113 | 0.4% | 0.8 | 1 |
| Menelaus | 12 | 79 | 0.3% | 0.6 | 4 |
| Helenus | 4 | 37 | 0.1% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Boy | 3 | 26 | 0.1% | 0.2 | 2 |
| Margarelon | 3 | 14 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Deiphobus | 2 | 10 | 0% | 0.1 | 2 |
| Myrmidons | 1 | 8 | 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; 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; 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; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2; 5.3 = Act 5, Scene 3; 5.4 = Act 5, Scene 4; 5.5 = Act 5, Scene 5; 5.6 = Act 5, Scene 6; 5.7 = Act 5, Scene 7; 5.8 = Act 5, Scene 8; 5.9 = Act 5, Scene 9; 5.10 = Act 5, Scene 10.

- **Troilus**: 1.1 (549), 2.2 (671), 3.2 (646), 4.2 (139), 4.3 (36), 4.4 (689), 4.5 (79), 5.1 (5), 5.2 (601), 5.3 (213), 5.4 (13), 5.6 (71), 5.10 (241)
- **Ulysses**: 1.3 (1,311), 2.3 (557), 3.3 (923), 4.5 (463), 5.1 (18), 5.2 (158), 5.5 (89)
- **Pandarus**: 1.1 (350), 1.2 (1,181), 3.1 (549), 3.2 (455), 4.2 (235), 4.4 (114), 5.3 (81), 5.10 (185)
- **Thersites**: 2.1 (582), 2.3 (445), 3.3 (343), 5.1 (447), 5.2 (156), 5.4 (224), 5.7 (92)
- **Cressida**: 1.2 (682), 3.2 (527), 4.2 (331), 4.4 (171), 4.5 (71), 5.2 (336)
- **Hector**: 2.2 (530), 4.5 (576), 5.1 (24), 5.3 (259), 5.4 (20), 5.6 (79), 5.8 (41)
- **Agamemnon**: 1.3 (479), 2.3 (431), 3.3 (100), 4.5 (257), 5.1 (26), 5.5 (63), 5.9 (40)
- **Achilles**: 2.1 (155), 2.3 (51), 3.3 (509), 4.5 (163), 5.1 (161), 5.5 (27), 5.6 (47), 5.7 (61), 5.8 (127)
- **Nestor**: 1.3 (681), 2.3 (120), 3.3 (11), 4.5 (212), 5.5 (105), 5.9 (7)
- **Aeneas**: 1.1 (30), 1.3 (442), 4.1 (141), 4.2 (149), 4.4 (63), 4.5 (168), 5.2 (25), 5.10 (26)
- **Paris**: 2.2 (231), 3.1 (200), 4.1 (219), 4.3 (58), 4.4 (14)
- **Diomedes**: 2.3 (29), 3.3 (14), 4.1 (254), 4.4 (97), 4.5 (32), 5.1 (16), 5.2 (160), 5.4 (21), 5.5 (40), 5.6 (22), 5.9 (8)
- **Ajax**: 2.1 (112), 2.3 (190), 3.3 (10), 4.5 (154), 5.1 (13), 5.5 (4), 5.6 (34), 5.9 (18)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ulysses: “Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,” | Act 1, Scene 3 | 454 | 63 |
| Ulysses: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,” | Act 3, Scene 3 | 352 | 46 |
| Ulysses: “The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns” | Act 1, Scene 3 | 316 | 43 |
| Troilus: “I take to-day a wife, and my election” | Act 2, Scene 2 | 298 | 36 |
| Ulysses: “I do not strain at the position—” | Act 3, Scene 3 | 232 | 30 |
| Aeneas: “Trumpet, blow loud,” | Act 1, Scene 3 | 227 | 28 |
| Agamemnon: “Princes,” | Act 1, Scene 3 | 226 | 30 |
| Hector: “Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,” | Act 2, Scene 2 | 222 | 31 |
| Agamemnon: “Hear you, Patroclus:” | Act 2, Scene 3 | 207 | 27 |
| Thersites: “How now, Thersites! what, lost in the labyrinth of thy fury! Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus? He beats me, and I rail at him: O, worthy satisfaction! would it were otherwise; that I could beat him, whilst he railed at me. ’Sfoot, I’ll learn to conjure and raise devils, but I’ll see some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then there’s Achilles, a rare enginer! If Troy be not taken till these two undermine it, the walls will stand till they fall of themselves. O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget that thou art Jove, the king of gods, and, Mercury, lose all the serpentine craft of thy caduceus, if ye take not that little little less than little wit from them that they have! which short-armed ignorance itself knows is so abundant scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing their massy irons and cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on the whole camp! or rather, the bone-ache! for that, methinks, is the curse dependent on those that war for a placket. I have said my prayers and devil Envy say Amen. What ho! my Lord Achilles!” | Act 2, Scene 3 | 196 | 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.

- Nestor and Paris
- Nestor and Alexander
- Nestor and Cassandra
- Nestor and Helen
- Nestor and Priam
- Nestor and Andromache
- Nestor and Helenus
- Nestor and Boy
- Nestor and Margarelon
- Nestor and Deiphobus
- Nestor and Myrmidons
- Aeneas and Alexander

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in Troilus and Cressida?

Troilus, with about 536 lines and 3,953 words, 15.6% of everything spoken in the play. Ulysses is next, with about 485 lines (13.9%).

### How long is Troilus and Cressida?

The full text has 25,263 spoken words, about 181 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 Troilus and Cressida?

27 named roles speak in this edition, across 24 scenes. 14 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/troilus-and-cressida) (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).