I don't think there's any such thing as a comprehensive list of reasons for the greatness of Shakespeare. It is, ultimately, a subjective thing, and there are probably others out there with at least as good a case for "greatness" whom you've never heard of due to the accidents of history. Ultimately, Shakespeare was the right guy in the right place at the right time.
We can list some of the properties that go into that, but I wouldn't say that they make him objectively "great".
- Shakespeare wrote in English, which is the most important language in the world. As much as half of the world speaks at least some English, and it's spoken everywhere. Wherever you go, if you fly to get there, the pilot spoke English.
- Shakespeare wrote in Elizabethan English, the language of the King James Bible, the world's most popular bible. For many, the sound of Elizabethan English is the Voice of God, both because it's wide-spread and because it conveys a formality that seems to hit just the right tone. Shakespeare and the KJV sound so similar that the Internet is rife with quizzes challenging you to tell which is which.
- Shakespeare was incredibly prolific. He sometimes wrote several plays a year, over a long career. Not every Shakespeare play is a winner, but there are simply more works out there than by any of his contemporaries. By sheer random distribution, he got more bites at the apple of producing a great play.
- Shakespeare had some potent friends. Many great works of his contemporaries are lost. Shakespeare's friends put together a Folio of works after his death. We don't have all of his works, but we have many of them.
- Shakespeare wrote in a wide variety of styles over that long career. He wrote comedies, tragedies, and histories. This diversity gives him an even greater chance of writing something that clicked with an audience. And it also leads us to say he was "great" simply for having produced great works in such a wide array of forms. There's something in Shakespeare for everybody, from soaring soliloquies to fart jokes.
- Shakespeare, like his contemporaries, performed on a bare stage. That required a lot of imagination from his audience, but it also makes his works highly adaptable. You can do Shakespeare in everything from a grand operatic style to three guys in a wagon. Shakespeare has adapted to the times for four centuries.
- Shakespeare stole great stories. Personally, I find it a bit weird to go to see a play based on a story by William Shakespeare, or see Shakespeare translated into another language. I'd rather see it as an author dipping into the same well of great stories Shakespeare did. But that explains part of Shakespeare's appeal: they all want to re-tell the same stories he wanted to re-tell.
- Shakespeare was vague and inconsistent. In my opinion, it was because he worked fast and didn't go through many editing cycles. In addition, his work seems designed to be edited down to suit the purpose: important plot points are told several times. Again IMO I think that this inconsistency yields only an illusion of psychological depth, but still, it's a great touchstone for actors and directors to use the work in myriad ways. Whether Shakespeare intended it or not, you get psychological depth.
- Blank verse poetry is very potent. It mimics the natural sounds of English while containing a rhythmic thrust. It feels good in the mouth of an actor to say, and when done well it feels good in the ear of an audience to hear. It ties into thousands of years of epic poetry.
- Shakespeare had a knack for a turn of phrase. Like the KJV, something about it sticks in the mind. Some of it may have to do with the language: Shakespeare's lesser-known contemporaries also contributed a few cliches to the language. Shakespeare somehow cranked them out by the literal hundreds, or even thousands.
- Shakespeare was a genius in an age of geniuses. The Elizabethan era produced some of the most fantastic minds in all of history, all gathered in one place. Shakespeare's plays are a reminder of a truly epic period in history, a golden age to be treasured and longed for.
- There's a kind of network effect. If you know one playwright, you know Shakespeare. It is the common language for everybody who wants to talk about the theater. If you don't know Shakespeare, you'll find it harder to connect with anybody. It's like a common mythos that derives great value from being universal totally aside from its individual value.
None of this completely covers it. Shakespeare is a phenomenon, and I really believe it could have been somebody else and just wasn't. And I've talked a lot about epiphenomena rather than trying to explain on a word-by-word basis what it is I find so damn fascinating about the plays myself. I am enraptured by them for reasons that have nothing to do with any of this. They speak to me. I have no idea whether they also speak to anybody else, or if they do, why they should. But my friends and I talk, think, argue, rehearse, perform... and then go back and do it all again, because we simply enjoy it. It's like asking why people watch birds or drive fast: we love it, and if you don't, you find your own thing.
- Joshua Engel
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