The Hamlet Project

Why does Hamlet think he needs to be cruel to his mother?
I get that cruelty sometimes happens. That life hands you lemons and so you, sometimes, in the heat of the moment, squirt lemon juice in someone’s eyes.
But to PLAN it. . .I don’t get it.
I mean, I understand that sometimes we have to say things to people that hurt their feelings and sometimes we have to gird our loins a little bit to say the uncomfortable thing. I’m working on a little problem like that myself right now. I have to tell someone something that might well feel bad to him – that might be hard to hear. My aim, though, will not be to speak it with cruelty. Hard things are better delivered with kindness – lemonade in a glass is better than a squirt of lemon in the eye.