The Noble Othello This character is so noble, Othello's feelings and actions flow so inevitably from him and the forces brought to bear him, and his sufferings are so heartbreakingly sincere, arousing a mingled passion of love and pity which readers feel for no other Shakespeare hero, and to which not even Mr. Swinburne can do more than justice. Yet there are some critics and quite a few readers who harbor a grudge against him. They do not limit themselves to thinking that in the last stages of the temptation he showed a certain obtuseness and that, to put it pedantically, he acted with unjustifiable haste and violence; no one, I suppose, denies it. But, even when they admit that he was not of a jealous disposition, they believe that he was "easily jealous"; they seem to think that it was unforgivable for him to have any suspicion towards his wife; and they blame him for never suspecting Iago or asking him for proof. I refer to this mental attitude primarily to draw attention to certain points in the story. Partly it comes from inattention (because Othello suspected Iago and asked him for proof); partly from a misinterpretation of the text which makes Othello appear jealous long before he actually is; [Note 2] and partly due to the failure to realize some essential facts. I'll start with these.1. Othello, we have seen, was confident and meticulous in his trust. He placed full faith in the honesty of Iago, who had not only been his comrade in arms, but, as he believed, had just proved his fidelity in matters of marriage. This trust was misplaced and we know it; but there was no sign of stupidity in Othello. For his opinion of Iago was the opinion of practically everyone who knew him: and that opinion was that Iago was first and foremost "honest", his own defects being those of an excess of honesty. This being the case, even if Othello had not been trusting and simple, it would have been quite unnatural for him to remain indifferent to the warnings of so honest a friend, warnings offered with extreme reluctance and manifestly out of a friend's sense of duty. [Note 3] Any husband would have been upset.2. Iago does not bring these warnings to a husband who lived with his wife for months and years and knew her as his sister or as his best friend.