# Final Scene Shakespearean Body Counts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900 "2006-08-23T16:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/21 "2006-08-27T20:10:34Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Sorry, didn’t mean to abandon this thread… been a busy week with stuff happening at work and the kids going back to school :smack: Anyway, I specifically wanted to know about the body count in just the final scene. The kid’s twelve, nothing about Shakespeare is going to get his attention like a pile of dead bodies on stage when the final curtain falls… No problem at all. It looks like the winner here is Hamlet - but that presents a problem, since I believe that’s Shakespeare’s second longest play. The longest is Richard III, also mentioned in this thread. I’d go with Macbeth: it has murders throughout, ends with a beheading (and a number of deaths in the preceding scenes), and it’s short by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/22 "2006-08-27T20:32:43Z")
The number of lines in _Hamlet_ varies according to who you believe, but it runs between circa 3,900 and 4,050. _Richard III_ contains about 3,620 lines. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/23 "2006-08-28T07:25:15Z")
\ So is there any Shakespearean traagedy where the title character does not die? \ ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/24 "2006-08-28T14:20:51Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > \ > So is there any Shakespearean traagedy where the title character does not die? > \ No. However, in _Julius Caesar_, the title character dies fairly early in the play, not in the last scene as normally happens. There was an 18th century version (rewritten by the Duke of Buckingham) called _The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus_ to reflect the fact that Brutus is really the tragic hero of this play. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/25 "2006-08-28T14:26:47Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > The number of lines in _Hamlet_ varies according to who you believe, but it runs between circa 3,900 and 4,050. _Richard III_ contains about 3,620 lines. Yup, you’re right. I had a feeling I was getting them backward but I didn’t bother to check. Hamlet is the longest, and Richard III is the second-longest. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900/26 "2006-08-28T14:30:27Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > The number of lines in _Hamlet_ varies according to who you believe, but it runs between circa 3,900 and 4,050. _Richard III_ contains about 3,620 lines. The reason why the number of lines in Hamlet varies is because we have two good texts, the Second Quarto of 1604-5 and the First Folio of 1623. Each of these texts contain substaintial amounts of text that the other omits. (If we only had the First Quarto (1603) text of Hamlet, it would probably be Shakespeare’s shortest play.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-scene-shakespearean-body-counts/369900.md?page=1)