Why is Shakespeare so famous in the US, above other great writers, like Euripides, Aeschylus, or other ancient?

Most likely because Shakespeare wrote in English. True, an archaic, flowery, poetic form of English, but he was a master of the language. Unfortunately, the works of those other, ancient writers had to have been translated. Something is ALWAYS lost in translation, and there's no assurance that a good translator is a good interpreter of literature, drama or other artistic forms. Euripides, et al, may have been masters of their millieau, but you can't truely believe that they created their themes and art forms from "scratch." Their works would have resonated with their audiences because they would have reconized the cultural context of what was written or performed. Without that cultural connection, their works would not have been preserved nor remembered. Imagine it this way. Could you truely say that you could connect with, say, Chinese music, or Japanese Kabuki or Noh drama? The farther removed from YOUR cultural context, the deeper your connection and appreciation. But the themes, about heroism, familial obligations, jealosy, politics, etc. are the same, whether Ancient Summerian, Greek, feudal Japanese, renaissance English or modern American. Other Answers (6) Well, first of all, Euripides isn't better than Shakespeare because of his frequent use of the deus ex machina, where a god swoops down and rights all the wrongs in the play, thereby undermining the plot's internal logic. Aeschylus also uses a similar device in his "Eumenides." Shakespeare is valued above all other writers because of his intricate weaving of character, plot, and meaning. Shakespeare's

best plays are morally ambiguous and do not attempt to make the reader/viewer believe a certain claim. The viewer is able to make his own decisions based on the multiple sides of the narrative he has been shown. Also, Shakespeare was able to weave an incredible poetic genius with a practical knowledge of the theater. Finally, there is no other author who has influenced as many subsequent writers as William Shakespeare. A short list: Herman Melville, William Faulkner, David Foster Wallace, Charles Dickens, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Um, you just said it: Shakespeare's writing is 2,000 years newer than Aeschylus and the other classical playwrights. Shakespeare was writing in modern English during the Renaissance, which in the grand scheme of human history wasn't really that long ago, and had the technological advantage of the printing press, which made it easy to create, distribute, and thus preserve many copies of his work. Thus, Shakespeare's preserved body of work is much larger than any single classical playwrights - Sophocles was probably as prolific as Shakespeare, but so few documents remain from that time period that we just don't have as much to work from. Remember, no printing press coupled with a strong oral tradition means that many pieces of classical literature did not survive past the fall of the Roman Empire, much less into modern times. There are many, many classical plays and pieces of writing that survive only in fragments, so imagine how many must have been lost entirely.

Probably more accessible than the ancients - which rarely get the Hollywood treatment that the Bard gets. They can be enjoyed on several levels - not sure which chord they strike with the Americans. You can't move in Stratford Upon Avon in the summertime for ardent Americans making it one of the most visited places in Britain. It's probably because America is an English speaking country with something of an English heritage. That and the fact that Shakespeare is arguably the greatest playwright of all time and his plays speak timelessly to the human condition. Shakespeare always wrote two plays in one: the grand, complicated one for royalty and the simple, vulgar one even the groundlings could understand. Americans are basically groundlings. We don't like to think that much. He has held the post of best writer that ever lived for about 1500 years by common consensus. Nobody can really touch him.