A mysterious connection between Hamlet and Israel

A correspondent writes

This is from Rael Isaac’s editorial in the most recent Mideast Outpost. Do you recognize the line from Hamlet being rewritten?

In an especially trenchant article (in The Jerusalem Post) Martin Sherman applies the famous line from Hamlet to Israel, where, he writes “there is an almost unfathomable disconnect between its capacities for techno/tactical brilliance and for staggering strategic imbecility.”

LA replies:

Yes, of course, that’s from the “To be or not to be” speech in Act II.

LA continues:

Or maybe it’s a paraphrase of the “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy in Act IV.

Correspondent replies:

In other words, you don’t know what line of Hamlet is being parodied.

LA replies:

Or maybe it’s from the “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy in Act I….

Correspondent replies:

It has to be one of those three, right?

(Note: irony was intended by both me and my correspondent in that last exchange, which doesn’t come across in print.)

- end of initial entry -

Paul T. writes:

Apparently the line in question is ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’, to judge from the following At the Mideast Outpost site:

Something Rotten in the State of Denmark

In an especially trenchant article (in The Jerusalem Post) Martin Sherman applies the famous line from Hamlet to Israel, where, he writes “there is an almost unfathomable disconnect between its capacities for techno/tactical brilliance and for staggering strategic imbecility.”

LA replies:

No, that’s not it. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” refers to the murder of the former king, Hamlet’s father. Sherman is referring to the disconnect between Hamlet’s brilliant intellect and his moral outrage about his father’s murder on one hand, and his inability to take appropriate action against the murderer on the other. But what particular famous line he is referring to, that didn’t come to my mind.

Evan H. writes:

I think you’re over-analyzing it—here is the original column from the Jerusalem Post:

Beyond its borders, Israel has made amazing contributions to humanity—in medicine, agriculture, computing, communications … Some of these more recent accomplishments have been ably chronicled by books such as the bestselling Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle.

Yet something is clearly rotten in the State of Israel. There is an almost unfathomable disconnect between its capacities for techno/tactical brilliance and for staggering strategic imbecility.

Indeed a deeply troubling pattern is emerging: Whenever dramatic successes, entailing long-range reconstructive strategic potential, are secured, their fruits are frittered away for short-term–at-best intermediate-range–benefits.

Whether military or economic, successes seem to give rise to illogical forces—self-induced and self-destructive—to willfully forgo them.

LA replies:

Thanks for sending this. Now that I see the fuller text from the Sherman article, it’s clear the famous line Isaac is thinking of is “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” But, as I indicated in my previous comment, that’s a very inappropriate reference for the idea being discussed. The “something rotten in the state of Denmark” is the fact that the current king murdered his predecessor and brother and married his wife. It is something criminal and evil—something that corrupts the entire state. It’s not anything like a mere failure to come up with a good political or economic strategy.

Paul T. replies to LA:

Right, but I’m thinking that what was meant was “there’s something rotten in the state of Israel, namely, the disconnect between Israel’s capacities for techno/tactical brilliance and for staggering strategic imbecility.” There was no intention to connect Israel’s position with Hamlet’s in any deeper way. This is consistent with the general lazy writer’s application of “there’s something rotten in…” to almost any context. I’ll see if I can find the original text of the Sherman article—if I’m wrong, I’m wrong:)

LA replies:

See the latest exchange in the VFR entry. Evan has found the original article, and the answer. Isaac was referring to the “something is rotten” line after all, but, as you say, it was a lazy reference. I and my original correspondent were confused by it, because we assumed that Isaac and Sherman were drawing a meaningful connection between some famous line in Hamlet and Israel, but they weren’t.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 23, 2011 04:12 PM | Send