Nuances and implications of 「これだけは許してください」


I understand the meaning of sentence in the title as "please forgive (me) for
just this." Is this understanding correct?

What exactly is the logical role of だけ here? 「これだけ」 or "only this" means an
upper bound: this and nothing else. Why would anyone wish for forgiveness for
one thing only and nothing else? Wouldn't you want to say "at least" rather
than "only"?




Without further context, this sounds more like "Let me at least do this." 許して
has dual meanings: "allow me" and "forgive me". Context here is extremely
important to get the right gist and to understand why だけ could make sense.

A further thought. Suppose someone were accused on multiple counts. Perhaps
the accused feels unjustly condemned, the accused might then request that at
least one of these counts be forgiven, the one the accused feels most unjustly
condemned on.

