Today most people view the plays of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote as works of literary genius. Would that opinion be shared around the time of their 1st performance/ publication? I know that Shakespeare is famous for appealing to groundlings as well as upper classmen, but did people still see Shakespeare as a genius? Or is it only by later inspection that people found Shakespeare's brilliance. Same with Cervantes. If I asked a relatively well off man in Spain about Don Quixote, would he hold it in the same high regard as we do now?