Is Shakespeare really the greatest writer of all time.....or even any good?

I'm with you. We were made to read amd study Shakespeare in school and, to be brutally honest, I found his work to be horribly dull. I guess it all just boils down to personal taste and the fact that his work is still exstensively part of many school curriculums just means that it will be read by a lot of people who would never think to do so on their own.

i have to agree with you. surely there has been some remarkable writers since but i think the thrill of shakespeare is perhaps, he is one of the oldest writer that was well publisized, sure we have heard of homer and others like that but they are not as widely available as shakespear...dunno, just my opinion.

I think why people think he is so great is because his pieces are supposedly timeless. However, I think this is debatable because in this day and age our English is so different that a lot of his works are really difficult to interpret. English majors would probably burn me at the stake as well, but I don't think literature has to be good just because it is literature. And while I do enjoy some of Shakespeare's plays I don't think he was the greatest guy ever. And maybe he didn't even really write those plays, that's definitely a highly debated issue.

I think its for several reasons. One, they are good stories if you can get past the English. I mean just look at how many movies are based on his works. He is important in a literary sense because he is one of the three works that is commonly referenced in writing the other two being the Bible and Greek/Roman Mythology. And he wrote everything in Iambic Pentameter. Have you ever tried to write something in Iambic Pentameter? I have and its a pain. He should be exalted just for that in my opinion. I have read several of his plays and I have his complete works at home.

English is not my native language which is why I haven't read Shakespeare. But from what I have seen and heard, he difinitely is not an easy read for people like me and some even like you and his work, well, I would say, kind of obsolete. As for exaltation, we, as humans, tend to exalt people who are no more among us.

hey.. people exhalt them who has been AHEAD OF THEIR TIMES..!!shakespeare was..!! he was a great writer..entertainedthe world..dont u look up to actors and story writers of movies..??? he was the biggest..!! his quotes are quoted even today, wat more to say beyond that..!! his language though difficult is full of life..!!

I think there are a couple of main reasons why many people today don't like Shakespeare. The first is that they find it boring. Which makes sense, because the majority of people who have encountered Shakespeare have done so by reading him in a high school class. I love Shakespeare, but I really don't enjoy reading his texts. They were never meant to be read- they're plays! I didn't start liking Shakespeare until I saw a really good stage production where the actors made the text come alive. The second reason people don't like Shakespeare is because they don't understand the language. Sure, it's English, but it's not the same English we speak now. The main problem here is that it's simply old. Shakespeare wrote for an audience about 400 years go. Back then, he was immensely popular, and that's part of why he's considered to be a great writer. Think of an old TV show that was really popular 40 years ago but probably isn't popular anymore. Now multiply that decline in popularity by 10 to account for 400 years rather than 40. That's why Shakespeare isn't popular now. It's not because he was a bad writer- it's because he was writing for a different audience than the one that exists now.

What is really interesting about Shakespeare is that he wrote for the common man. His plays were meant to entertain the uneducated masses. And while he was a respected playwright in his time, he wasn't considered a genius until centuries later!

My answer might be the shortest one here, lol, but that's a new thing for me. I would say it's because his themes are universal. There were others in his time that were just as note worthy, but Shakespeare we can take and put into any time, any place, and we have the things we deal with in humanity in every era. Have you seen, for example, 10 Things I hate about you? Simply Shakespeare in the 21st century. (Taming of the Shrew). The Lion King? Simply Hamlet in Disney format. There are a host of movies that are based upon Shakespeare plays or those universal themes. So even if kids in class complain to me about the dreary language, the out of date context as soon as we take a look at the modern day world, they can see those themes. Namaste-Anora

I was never made to study Shakespeare in school, so lucky! Otherwise examinations took all the fun out of reading. I started to read Shakespeare when I was in the late 20s, and I loved the writings a lot. His plays focused on all the things that we find important, on love and lust, on power, on wealth. Shakespeare managed to make the characters alive, and we can see the same thoughts passing through the minds of the people we know. The fight for power in Shakespeare plays is the same fight for power in office politics. Even if we manage to win the fight and get the promotion by "killing" our colleagues, forcing them to resign, so what? Our hands are as bloody as Lady Mcbeth, and we will feel guilty and avoid our colleagues when we see across the street.