I hit a mule cruelly? Shame (9)
I believe the answer is:
humiliate
'shame' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'i hit a mule cruelly?' is the wordplay.
'cruelly?' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'cruelly' mean this (I've seen this in other clues)).
'i'+'hit'+'a'+'mule'='ihitamule'
'ihitamule' is an anagram of 'HUMILIATE'.
(Other definitions for humiliate that I've seen before include "Put down" , "Abash" , "Deprive of dignity, make to feel ashamed" , "To humble" , "Injure someone's pride" .)