perhaps mostly subliminally , promotes and perpetuates the Tudor Myth .
There are many instances and pieces of evidence that confirm that claim : Shakespeare uses themes , motifs , images , etc . that in general and as a whole advance the Tudor Myth . To include all those instances in this article will be an impossible feat . As such , the concept I would like to concentrate upon in this paper is the “ residual ” in Shakespeare ’ s History Plays . As defined by the key cultural critic Raymond Williams in his Marxism and Literature ( 1977 ):
The residual , by definition , has been effectively formed in the past , but it is still active in the cultural process , not only and often not at all as an element of the past , but as an effective element of the present . Thus certain experiences , meanings , and values which cannot be expressed or substantially verified in terms of the dominant culture , are nevertheless lived and practiced on the basis of the residue – cultural as well as social – of some previous social and cultural institution or formation . It is crucial to distinguish this aspect of the residual , which may have an alternative or even oppositional relation to the dominant culture , from that active manifestation of the residual ( this being its
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