burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Well partly it's just important to be well-grounded in Shakespeare (and the Bible and Greek mythology) because so much Western literature throughout the ages alludes to it, so many famous sayings come from it. Shakespeare didn't come up with many original plots, but he took all of what was floating around and improved upon it and got it performed and ultimately (whether because his versions were so damned good or so popular or whatever) got those stories preserved, passed down. So yeah, that's my off-the-cuff answer to why it's important. And some of the stories are just damned good. :)