I agree that his characters are compelling and the plots entertaining
It's just that I can't understand them which gets in the way of me liking them
If I could watch it with modern subtitles then that would be good, or read it from a parallel text
However I have a feeling that his works may be over-rated
But obviously he was very influential so I would not have it removed from the syllabus in schools
It's just that I'm not into them myself
The problem is that modern secondary schools don't teach Elizabethan English properly and do a few weeks of Shakespeare that doesn't teach anyone anything. You'd really need to be immersed in this form of English for years to really appreciate it, I think. We are no longer being given a classical education that would allow us to appreciate our own literary history.
I have been reading Middle English for years and only after that time does it begin to sound normal and affect my every day speech. But I grasp the poetry better and the culture etc. than I ever did when I first started.
The education system failed us to the point that we can't do these things. It seems your anger may be directed at public school toffs who were able to learn this properly and appreciate it in ways state school students never could.
If you want to get into 16th c-17th c. literature, try Ben Johnson, Edmund Spenser and John Donne.