What are William Shakespeare's greatest achievements?

William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 narratives. Some of his most famous plays include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. His plays were wildly popular when they were first performed in Elizabethan England, and the universality of their themes and the humor they employ have made them popular into modern times as well.