The internal temptation to confess is as powerful as the external danger of discovery.

Evidence

For this reason, the secret is surrounded by the possibility and temptation of betrayal; and the external danger of being discovered is interwoven with the internal danger, which is like the fascination of an abyss, of giving oneself away. The secret puts a barrier between men but, at the same time, it creates the tempting challenge to break through it, by gossip or confession and this challenge accompanies its psychology like a constant overtone. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 8094

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: The ‘fascination of an abyss’ and the drive toward confession directly predicts Raskolnikov’s compulsion to confess, which Dostoevsky dramatizes as the need for a third party.