cruelty theme
A character is indifferent to, or delights in, pain and suffering that they inflict on someone else.
Examples
Gul Madred subjected Captain Picard to unspeakable tortures in tng6x11 "Chain of Command, Part II" and tried to make him see five lights where there were only four, four lights!
69 total · 19 major · 50 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| as1985e1x11 | major | Sheriff Smyvie was hard of heart and showed a marked lack of sympathy for the Santas he'd arrested on the night of Christmas Eve. The story concluded with mean and cynical Sheriff Smyvie's heart being touched when he received a Buck Roger's ray gun from Santa. Filled with the Christmas spirit, he joined a group of carolers and accompanied them as they sang door to door. |
| ftt1982e3x05 | major | The queen callously tried to murder her own stepdaughter, Snow White, merely on account that the princess was more beautiful than her. |
| ftt1982e4x05 | major | The stepmother and her two daughters delighted in treating Cinderella like dirt. |
| movie: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) | major | The story revolves around the excessively many and excessively cruel punishments meted out by Captain Bligh. |
| movie: Ran (1985) | major | there are many exceptionally cruel acts and characters |
| movie: Sansho the Bailiff (1954) | major | Sansho and adult Zushio especially |
| movie: Wuthering Heights (1939) | major | Hindley was cold and callous toward Heathcliff. Even though they had grown up together, Hindley made Heathcliff be his stable boy, and generally treated him as an outcast. When the tables were turned, Heathcliff was arguably more cruel to Hindley, and abetted his descent into alcoholism. |
| nightgallery2x04a | major | Justus was mean to the lady upstairs, named Elizabeth, when she came downstairs to pay him a visit. She returned the favor by locking him in his own bedroom together with a giant spider. |
| play: King Lear (1606) | major | Goneril and Regan and their respective husbands were notably cruel as they turned out their father, put Kent in stocks, blinded Gloucester (...) |
| rbt1985e3x01 | major | The story culminated with Ralph playing a cruel prank on the diminutive Mr. Bigelow: Ralph swapped the usual funhouse mirror that Mr. Bigelow used with one that distorted his image to make him seem even smaller than usual. |