Cruelty is a common occurance within both the movie Spartacus, where physical abuse is present, and within current society, where the majority of the cruelty is mental. Spartacus, himself, has the majority of the cruelty happen to him, throughout the duration of his life. He was sold into slavery at the age of 13, where he was beaten and whipped if he did not comply with the rules. This is shown during the scene when the scout for the gladiator school comes to acquire some new gladiators. At that time, Sparticus was being starved for his non-compliance. During Spartacus' training within the gladiator school, he was taught to fight to death and also how to kill his opponent slowly as to entertain those who watched. In addtion to being taugh to fight to the death, the soon-to-be gladiators were kept within cage-like cells where they were taunted, especially Spartacus, for his infacuation with the woman slave working there, in addition to being branded. After his escape from the gladiator school, he starts an army of slaves which, after many months, was defeated in a large battle. Spartacus and several other members of his army were taken prisioner and then later crusified. This essentially ment that they were tied to crosses along a road and left to starve, with Spartacus being one of the final to be crusified. All of this cannot be compared to any kind of common cruelty in modern society. Within modern society, generally, any kind of cruelty involves the mental destruction of people, through bullying and other such methods. Unlike in Spartacus' time, people of today are generally given the same rights, even if they have done wrong, they still obtain many of their rights. However, one of the only things that can be comparable is the act of stoning someone. This is present in many countries in 'modern' society, where a person who has broken the law is burried up to his/her neck or waist and then has stones thrown at them. It is usually a long process that is considered to be an extremely cruel punisment. This usually causes an outburst of disgust at the activity from those of whom do not see this an act of cruelty and causes further conflict within itself.


Crassus seems to be driven more by power with the movie whereas Spartacus is driven by a goal and a want to free himself and those like him. Spartacus wanted change, and had a motivation back up by those of similar status. Whereas, Crassus was only driven by his own power hungry self for selfish reasons. Although, Spartacus is moreso given his position based upon his leadership qualities, such as his riot he caused at the gladiator school, unlike Crassus who wanted power, and forced himself upon it. Several other instances within the film suggest towards a downwards look at Spartacus and his class. It was shown that he was thought that Spartacus was to fail at his goal of freeing the slaves. Such as the view that Rome is an outstanding society, so much, that it is believed that no man, refering to Spartacus and his army, can conquor it.


Spartacus was given his power due to his constant leadership qualities that would be present through out the movie, where as Crassus was unable to because he was greedy and wanted power. Spartacus is seen in the movie as a strong individual who is capable of achieving goals and things of importance. An example of this would be when Spartacus killed Marcellus in the gadiator school as so he could start a riot and escape there, along with the rest of the people there. This is in contrast to the view that is put upon Crassus, since it is shown through out the movie that he is not well liked. This was shown when Grassus planned to steal Crassus' pride and 'destroy' him, therefore what little power he had. Spartacus' power was also obtained through is idea that the way that society was running wasn't what it should be. This is shown when he stops to men from fighting after they had escaped the gladiator school. He his also shown to have vast intelligence, present in during his schooling and during his battle preparations. He was able to divise a battle plan that presented a great fight, even though it failed.