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   blacksheepunite Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Mercutio is angry because he believes that Romeo has been cowardly in refusing to fight Tybalt. He doesn't know that the reason that Romeo won't fight is that Romeo is newly married and he is now related to Tybalt. Tybalt doesn't know this other because Romeo hints at it but doesn't tell him directly.

   Mercutio fights Tybalt instead of Romeo. Romeo tries to stop the fight and gets in between them (bad idea). While Romeo is trying to keep the two apart, Tybalt gets a shot in under his arm and stabs Mercutio, who dies soon after. That's why he complains to Romeo that he was 'hurt under his arm'.

   Mercutio says that they have made worms meat out of him--which means that he knows he is going to die because of his wounds, but still he calls it a "scratch." Before he dies, he curses both houses--Romeo's, the Montagues, and Tybalts, the Capulets.

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   Posted by blacksheepunite on Saturday June 6, 2009 at 10:19 PM