Shakespeare's true brilliance is his timelessness. I shared your disdain for his work at first. I didn't have to read him for school but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think I felt I needed to if I really wanted to be a writer. I remember how grueling of a task it was at first but, after a while, it was like one of those old Magic Eye pictures from the 1990's. A switch was flipped in my brain and it all made sense.