What's the Big Deal About Shakespeare?

People, people who are usually intellectuals who would understand it (let's be frank), keep telling us we should study it.

For example, in the fictional ST: TNG series, Picard says, "Data, you're here to learn about the human condition and there is no better way of doing that than by embracing Shakespeare.", The Defector (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Season 3, Episode 10.

I also find it ironic. Because Shakespeare used to play it in the Globe Theatre on the outskirts of London. And it was attended by the common masses, many of whom couldn't even read. Plus, I don't know if you know this. But most of the howling masses back then were suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome, because drinking fresh water back then was dangerous, if not deadly sometimes.

So what makes it so special?

 

To those who do not speak the English language, nor know how to read, nor watch live theater, Shakespeare's written works are of no value or interest.

English is the most widely-spoken language in the world today as a native or second language, with about 1.5 billion speakers (Mandarin Chinese is second at about 1.1 billion). No other language is even close. Shakespeare did more to create new words and standardize spelling and grammar - to shape contemporary English - than any other person in history.

Even if you do not read or find enjoyment in his plays, sonnets, or other writings, his work stands as a model and pattern used extensively by other writers in English for 400 years. Even the illiterate have seen films based on characters and stories invented by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare and Cervantes, who were contemporaries, contributed more to literature in European languages than any other individuals in history. This is a point of opinion, and I could put other authors on a top-10 list, such as Homer, Vergilius Maro, Ludovico Ariosto, Dante Alighieri, Alexandre Dumas, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but Shakespeare and Cervantes stand far above any others.