Elemente der illuminatischen Ideologie in einigen vorklassischen Werken von Goethe und Schiller

This Master's thesis analyses the connection between the Illuminati ideology and the sociopolitical ideals contained in pre-classical works—contemporary to the existence of the order—of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. The first chapter examines the creation, the development and the eventual collapse of the Illuminati Secret Society (Geheimbund der Illuminaten) founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt in the context of the Enlightenment. The second chapter explores the ideological similarities between the young Goethe and this secret society through the analysis of his works Götz von Berlichingen (1771–1773), Egmont (1775–1784) and Der Groß Cophta (1791). The third chapter expounds Schiller's ideological opinion of the Illuminati through Don Carlos (1787), and discusses their republican visions of freedom and human rights. The conclusion integrates the findings made in each chapter and demonstrates, through both authors' discussed works, the similar ideals of both authors and Illuminism.