Critical Responses
In The Devil's Law Case, as in his Appius and Virginia, "Webster reverses his anarchistic position" as displayed in The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, "and asserts the priority of social order." "As Webster becomes more pessimistic about nature, he turns to law to replace it, or at least to control it." The subject of the law is very prominent in Webster's play, and has drawn the attention of a range of commentators.
James Russell Lowell called The Devil's Law Case Webster's "best play." No other commentator has reached the same height of enthusiasm. Critics have complained of the play's looseness in plotting and structure.
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