True, the question can be torn apart on its subjective nature, but I think the answer is still more "yes" than "no". How many other writers can you name that are such a core part of our modern culture some 400 years after they're gone? Sure we still read plenty of "classics" from that time period and before, but try to go a day without having somebody quote Shakespeare at you (whether they know they did it or not). Or go without using one of the hundreds of words he added to the language that we still use today. He surely did something different - better? - than the others to strike that kind of chord with people for centuries to come.

Attached link is to my blog where we talk about exactly this topic - see comments from the 80yr old gentleman who's been telling us where he first learned about Shakespeare and why he set himself the task of reading the complete works annually for 20 years. My apologies to folks who think that all self promotion is spam.