Do educated people need to read Shakespeare?

I like Shakespeare, but I don't think you should have to read it to understand a newspaper. Writers shouldn't expect a reader to understand a sentence like this:

Being awestruck at "Halo" does not entail awe any more than "grieving" for Cordelia entails grief. 

The review is otherwise interesting throughout. But I have a hard time getting over the obscure Shakespeare reference and the implication the writer is a snob.