Count Hermann itself is not one of Dumas most interesting
plays. It reads like a modernization of Tristan/King Mark and Yseult set in
the 1840's in Germany or Switzerland. Doctor Sturler is Count Hermann's
protégé (the son of an innkeeper educated by Count Hermann to be a
doctor, and his personal physician.) Sturler renounces his fiancée to Count
Hermann who marries her. Then the good doctor proceeds to embroil Count
Hermann's nephew with his wife in the hopes that the elderly Count will
disinherit his nephew from jealousy and leave all his considerable fortune
to Dr. Sturler. He is found out. Hermann and his nephew reconcile, and the
Count makes a bequest to Doctor Sturler's father, the innkeeper. Furious,
the doctor embarks on his experiment.
