Other sources say that the play itself has 4,042 lines and 29,551 words, and that Hamlet has approximately 40% of the total lines. I wanted to check this out, so I count
…ed. The answer is... It depends on what you consider a "line". Some of the play is in prose and some of it is in iambic pentameter verse. For these purposes, I considered a line to be every single line, meaning that the "rogue and peasant slave" soliloquy would be 31 lines, not 1. While Hamlet only speaks once, it occupies 31 lines on a page. It is necessary to say this because the prose sections could be counted differently depending on how wide a page is in each particular edition. I used the Pelican version, which is not generally considered to be as good as the Arden or Riverside texts, but it was what I had. In that version, Hamlet speaks 1438 lines. Kenneth Branagh says that he remembers speaking over 1500, so he must have written a few extras to throw in there. Not surprising, considering his ego. He also claims to have been the same age as Hamlet when he played him, which also probably gives him the benefit of the doubt by about 10 to 15 years. As for how many times Hamlet is cued to speak, I would have to count again. But in the Pelican edition he has 1,438 lines, or approximately 36% of the lines in the play. (MORE) 
