Is Shakespeare just "Words, words, mere words"?

Recent comments from the dean of a small liberal arts college remind us why Shakespeare's mastery of language is not just "Words, words, mere words," (Hamlet, Act II, Scene II) but still resonates today.

If the curriculum is to be a useful instrument in perfecting nature, then there are certain elements in it that will remain substantially the same, given the essential aspects of human nature, namely, the capacity for thought and reflection and the ability to express those thoughts.  Language is the tool that we use for thinking, making comparisons, discovering relations, and communicating them to others.  Thus, language, with its functions of communication and thought, must form the core of the general education curriculum.

Language, Aristotle, and the Matrix

Why Shakespeare? The man died 395 years ago, and yet his plays are performed over and over. There are many reasons for the Bard's enduring popularity, including his profound grasp of human emotion and psychology, his humor, and the historical aspect he introduced into many of his plays. But many commentators site his grasp of language as his defining characteristic.