Why is Shakespeare considered a great writer??

 Why is Shakespeare considered a great writer or what are the salient features of Shakespeare's plays

Introduction.

• Shakespeare was not a man but a phenomenon unamendable to any critical test whatever.
• Pope asserted that Shakespeare was not an imitator but an instrument of Nature. 
• He did not speak for Nature, rather it was Nature who spoke through him.

Shakespeare's Comprehensiveness

• Shakespeare deals with is the entire length and breadth of human life and character in all its complexity and variety.
• Shakespeare "was the man, who of all modern and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul.
•  Shakespeare has the architectonic skill.
• Shakespeare has the possession of dramatic gifts that appeal to the readers and the audience as well.
• we have to admit that Shakespeare is superior to any of his contemporaries in that he combines all the gifts.
• Therein lies "comprehensiveness" and, consequently, the secret of his continued appeal.

Shakespeare's Plot-construction.

• Shakespeare's plot-construction is more often mentioned to be condemned than commended.
• As regards the "three unities," he was a serious offender.
• Even the most important of the unities-the unity of action-was very often altogether disregarded by him.
• Shakespeare seems to have bothered more about the artistic unity of effect than any mechanical observance of any one of the three unities.

Shakespeare's Characterisation.

• Shakespeare's superiority over his contemporaries is his "insight into human nature.
•  This is the quality in which Shakespeare is far richer than his contemporaries. 
• It gives his characters an abundance of psychological realism making them very convincing. 
• Shakespeare was a subtle-souled psychologist.
• Shakespeare is the greatest philosopher of the human heart ever known.
• His power of piercing to the hidden centers of character, of touching the issues of life, and of evolving these issues dramatically with flawless strength subtlety, and truth, is superb.

Shakespeare's Philosophy and Humanity.

• Compton Ricket humorsly remarks There is no philosophy of life in Shakespeare.
• Shakespeare was an artist and concerned primarily not with postulating theories of life, but with the stuff of life itself.
• He tried to portray human nature with all aspects.
• There is no single emotion that Shakespeare missed to portray.

Shakespeare's Poetic Power.

• Shakespeare was a richer and more imaginative poet than any of his contemporaries.
• He is", says Compton-Rickett, "the supreme poet in an age of great poetry, because his poetry is wider in range and deeper in feeling than that of his contemporaries.
• He touches every mood of graceful sentiment, as in the romantic comedies; of delicate fantasy, as in the fairy plays; of philosophic meditation, as in the tragedies of the mid-period; and of poignant passion, as in the later tragedies.
• Shakespeare towers above his fellows.
• Hazlitt talks about Shakespeare's "magic power over words."
• Shakespeare has an almost instinctive knowledge of all the nuances of meaning and the art of their most effective arrangement.
• His interchanging of verse and prose for dramatic utterance too bespeaks his wonderful artistry and a kind of fidelity to nature.

Conclusion.

• Shakespeare's plays are of universal significance and highly superior to those of his contemporaries on account of his wonderful poetry.
• His sympathetic humanity and broad-mindedness, his superb mastery of his medium, and his masterful insight into human nature which ever remains the same. 
• Human beings come and go but human nature remains the same. 
• Ralph Waldo Emerson said, " Shakespeare is a poet who speaks from a heart in unison with his time and country."
•  Shakespeare's heart beats in unison with all times and all countries. 
• Ben Jonson said that Shakespeare "was not of an age but for all time." 
• We could also say, as Legouis suggests, that he was not of a land but of all lands.
• Let us conclude by referring to an actual incident. 

A Japanese student, on being asked if he could understand and sympathize with the characters in As You Like It, replied, "Why not? They are all Japanese!"

Test Your Memory by playing the following video regarding Shakespeare as a brilliant writer.