🎭 I must be cruel, only to be kind - Learn English vocabulary & idioms with ’Shakespeare Speaks’

Do you believe it is possible to be ‘cruel to be kind’? This English expression, used by Shakespeare in ’Hamlet’, means ’to cause someone pain for their own good’ Watch the video to find out more and then tell us - have you ever had to be ‘cruel to be kind’? 👇👇👇 👩‍🏫 FOR TEACHERS: Download a FREE lesson plan and worksheet here! 👉 More videos in this series: 🎭 Strange bedfellows 👉 🎭 Forever and a day 👉 🎭 Spotless reputation 👉 🎭 The world’s my oyster 👉 🎭 Not budge an inch 👉 More activities and materials connected to this episode 👉 Shakespeare Speaks is a co-production between BBC Learning English and The Open University. TRANSCRIPT Narrator It was a windy November day. William Shakespeare is at the palace of King James I. He’s having dinner with the King and Queen. King James Mr Shakespeare, have some more wine. What’s this? Water? Where’s my wine?! The Queen Now dear, you know you mustn’t drink too much wine. The doctor says it’s bad for your health! King James No wine?! Madam, you are very cruel to me. Don’t you agree, Mr Shakespeare? Will Your Majesty, the Queen is being cruel, only to be kind, like my character Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. King James Does Hamlet take away the King’s wine? Will No, no, your Majesty: Hamlet says cruel and terrible things to his mother, the Queen. He’s angry because she married his uncle Claudius, very soon after his father’s death. Hamlet suspects that his mother, or his uncle, or both of them, killed his father, so that they could marry each other. King James Well! No wonder he’s saying cruel things. But how is he going to be kind, I wonder? Go on, go on… Will Your Majesty. Hamlet tells his mother that he said these cruel and terrible things to shock her into realising that this marriage is wrong – it’s a sin. But he says she can begin to make up for the sin and be a better person if she leaves her new husband. That’s why he says ’I must be cruel, only to be kind’. Robert Harley as Hamlet So, again, good night. I must be cruel, only to be kind: Thus bad begins and worse remains behind. One word more, good lady. Narrator We’ll leave them there for now. Shakespeare’s audiences loved the violence and powerful emotions in his revenge tragedies. But Hamlet is not your typical revenge character. He’s a thinker who becomes a man of action. In modern English, Shakespeare’s phrase is usually shortened to I must be cruel to be kind. Or just cruel to be kind. People say it when they do something unkind that will actually benefit someone. Clip I know I upset her when I told her to get a haircut, but it was such a mess: I had to be cruel to be kind. King James Tell me Mr Shakespeare, does the Queen follow Hamlet’s advice? Will I’m afraid not, your Majesty. The Queen She should have listened to him. King James Quite right, quite right. The Queen And you should listen to me dear. No more wine! King James Hmmm. To listen or not to listen, that is the question. 🤩🤩🤩 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more English videos and podcast English to help you improve your English 👉 ✔️ Visit our website 👉 ✔️ Follow us on Instagram 👉 ✔️ Find us on Facebook 👉 ✔️ Join us on TikTok 👉 @bbclearningenglish #learnenglish #Shakespeare #Idioms