HKB
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Often appears with: sin, guilt, and repentance · marion · justice as a virtue · honor, shame, and reputation · fear of shame · false accusation
Usually: reflection (1) · injustice endured (1) · the test or trial (1) · lament (1)
“I did not fear punishment, but I dreaded shame: I dreaded it more than death, more than the crime, more than all the world.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Volume 02 · insight
Rousseau explains how, out of fear of shame and public exposure, he falsely accused Marion of giving him a ribbon he meant to give her, and reflects on guilt, regret, and lifelong aversion to lying.
I should not fulfill the purpose of this undertaking, did I not, at the same time, divulge my interior disposition, and excuse myself as far as is conformable with truth. Never was wickedness further from my thoughts, than in that cruel moment; and when I accused the unhappy girl, it is strange, but strictly true, that my friendship for her was the immediate cause of it. She was present to my thoughts; I formed my …