Der Gross-Cophta

work by Goethe

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July 16, 2026

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"Der Gross-Cophta" is a play by J.W. von Goethe published in 1792. It was a theatrical failure and is considered a satire on Freemasonry. The play also attempted to address recent events in France.1

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Return to Weimar and the French Revolution (1788–94)
A new prose drama, Der Gross-Cophta (1792; “The Grand Kofta”), was a failure on the stage in 1791. A satire on Freemasonry, it was also the first of several unsatisfactory or fragmentary attempts to deal in a literary form with recent events in France (Der Bürgergeneral [1793; “The Citizen-General”];…
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A new prose drama, Der Gross-Cophta (1792; “The Grand Kofta”), was a failure on the stage in 1791. A satire on Freemasonry, it was also the first of several unsatisfactory or fragmentary attempts to deal in a literary form with recent events in France (Der Bürgergeneral [1793; “The Citizen-General”];…
Read More