Hamnet (A quick note: In Shakespeare's time, the names Hamlet and Hamnet were allegedly interchangeable. They were one and the same). For well over a century, the works of William Shakespeare have played an essential role in classroom curricula in secondary schools and colleges throughout the world. Mention Shakespeare to anyone with even the slightest degree of cultural knowledge and they will be able to cite Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet and Macbeth as hallmarks in the canon of western literature, even if they are unable to discuss the finer points of the hallowed classics of a man most consider to be "the greatest writer in the English language". The Bard of Avon, as Shakespeare came to be known, was incredibly prolific in his time, ultimately establishing himself as the Elizabethan Era's finest dramatist. Despite the fact that Shakespeare was, in fact, a small-town boy , his family was of sufficient means to allow the young man to receive a formal education until ...