This text addresses the psychoanalytic studies carried out by Sigmund Freud about cruelty. The hypothesis to be developed raises a theory of cruelty based on the psychic functioning of the subject, where social reality can be understood in light of the theory of the unconscious. Freud's statement in "Why War?" is used as a starting point in which he distinguishes three motives for cruelty: erotic tendencies, destructive tendencies, and ideals. Regarding erotic tendencies, sadism will be discussed as a manifestation of sexual drive. For destructive tendencies, the death drive and its extension in terms of the drive for destruction will be addressed. Regarding ideals, the superego and the ego ideal will be discussed in relation to cruelty. This journey aims to expose cruelty as an individual act yet inseparable of its public appearance.