How Is Paris A Tragic Hero

Paris The Tragic Hero

The best example of a tragic hero in Romeo and Juliet is not Romeo or Juliet, but instead the Count Paris. He is the tragic hero of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because he has all the characteristics of one. He is virtuous, flawed and suffers from a reversal of fortune, which according to Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, is what qualifies a character to be a tragic hero. Paris is virtuous because the audience feels sympathy for him when he visits Juliet’s grave after she dies. He portrays flaws because he is ignorant and unable to understand Juliet and her feelings. He suffers from a reversal of fortune because he starts off a good place then over time gets worse until he ends up dead.

Paris is a typical example of a

Paris is ignorant because he does not take time to understand Juliet and her feelings. When Paris and Juliet’s father, Capulet, are talking about the wedding for the first time, Capulet states that Juliet is too young to marry, but Paris responds with, “younger than her are happy mothers made.” (1.2.12.), so he does not really care about her and her feelings, he just wants to marry her and make her his. Capulet says “but, woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart.” (1.2.16.), but Paris does not even try to get her heart, all he does is dance with her once at the ball which is forced upon by Juliet’s parents, but nothing after that. One can assume that Juliet wants to feel a connection with someone before marrying them, like the relationship between her and Romeo. Paris just assumes that any young girl would love to be his bride. To woo Juliet, Paris needs to understand her better and think of the things she wanted. Another flaw of Paris is that he lacks communication skills. For instance, after it was confirmed that Paris would marry Juliet, from Juliet’s father, Paris did not go up to Juliet and ask for her hand in marriage, he decided that it would be enough for her parents to tell her she is getting married. When Juliet gets the news that she will be marrying Paris, from her parents, she rejects the idea. Paris does not even ask her why she does not want to marry him; he just waits for her parents to force her into it. Which does not build a particularly good relationship between them for soon to be newlyweds. When him and Juliet were at Friar Laurence’s cell, he says “happily met, my lady and my wife” (4.1.18) Paris was teasing Juliet calling her his wife before they were even married. Which shows that Paris does not want to communicate with her, her thoughts, and feelings on the whole ordeal, he just wants