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Is Iago acting out of jealousy? If so, how do Othello and Iago deal with their jealousy?

Iago is indeed acting out of jealousy. First of all, he's jealous that Othello passed him up for a promotion and chose to honor Cassio instead. Secondly, he's jealous because he believes that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia. This latter assumption seems pretty unfounded, but Iago nonetheless uses it as justification for his jealousy. 


It's interesting to note, therefore, that Iago and Othello are similar in that both are jealous men. Iago deals...

Iago is indeed acting out of jealousy. First of all, he's jealous that Othello passed him up for a promotion and chose to honor Cassio instead. Secondly, he's jealous because he believes that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia. This latter assumption seems pretty unfounded, but Iago nonetheless uses it as justification for his jealousy. 


It's interesting to note, therefore, that Iago and Othello are similar in that both are jealous men. Iago deals with his jealousy by manipulating most of the play's characters, especially Cassio and Othello, to orchestrate their downfalls. Likewise, Othello deals with his jealousy by killing Desdemona. So, both men are similar in that they will go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy their jealous feelings. However, that's not to say that Iago and Othello are exactly the same; indeed, Othello is tricked into acting on his jealous feelings, while Iago carefully and methodically acts on his jealousy with full knowledge of what he is doing. As such, it's hardly surprising that Iago has often been called Shakespeare's most evil character.  

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