Cruelty refers to the fact of enjoying making others suffer.

It’s a form of extreme violence which can be physical or psychological. This violence is often gratuitous and intended for innocent people.

Some people consider cruelty as a form of madness that gives a feeling of enjoyment to the one who’s being violent. A cruel person likes to see other people suffering and even dying. Cruelty is a way for some criminals to express their emotions through vengeance (see vengeance) and release.

Cruelty can also take the form of violence towards one’s loved ones. We can see that in some couples or some families, someone can be cruel towards the people he’s supposed to love by making them suffer physically and psychologically. These are toxic people that will make their loved ones suffer and manipulate them at the same time so they won’t leave. Those toxic people will hold their loved ones back because they are scared of being left alone. Or they just enjoy making them suffer.

We can also witness cruelty during wars, for exemple with the massacre of innocents people or the torture of prisoners.

A person can be cruel, but life itself can also be cruel : we say that life or fate are cruel when something happens to us, like a car accident or a disease, that isn’t anyone’s fault, that’s just a coincidence.