Count Paris

The Count Paris is a cousin of Prince Escalus, and the dream match for Juliet - according to her parents, that is. He is a man of rank and of means, who is very interested in young Juliet and seems to harbor authentic feelings for her, though he does not know her at all. He does the correct and upstanding thing in going to ask her father for Juliet’s hand in marriage, and when her father acquiesces, he feels entitled to Juliet as his future wife and behaves accordingly. We must be able to feel that Romeo is a better match for Juliet than Paris, but he also must be an actor capable of sharing his immense grief with the audience when he presumes Juliet to be dead.