honest character in literature

[luhsun]

I would vote for andrew undershaft (reminds me of jdi)
Marchiavelli was brutal in his political brazenness, but fawning when he wrote of cesare borgia. Likewise sun-tzu.

[Jackson Richardson]

Jeanie Deans in Scott's The Heart of Midlothian is not prepared to tell a lie on oath even though it means her sister is condemned to death. (Jeanie then walks all the way from Edinburgh to London to plead for her sister's life with the queen. All ends reasonably happily.)