Two Mothers

In Short

Two Mothers is a collection of two dramatic verse plays by John G. Neihardt that examine the dark depths of maternal love, ambition, and tragic violence. In the first play, Eight Hundred Rubles, an impoverished peasant mother is tempted by a vast sum of money into committing an unthinkable crime against a stranger, only to discover a devastating personal cost. In the second play, Agrippina, the Roman empress revels in her reconciliation with her son, the emperor Nero, blind to the murderous plot he has set in motion against her. These intense dramas have endured through their sharp psychological insight into guilt, greed, and the corrupting nature of power.

The Story

In Eight Hundred Rubles, a peasant girl sings of an open inn for weary vagrants while her parents return home from market exhausted and bitter. A mysterious stranger sleeps in their garden, leaving behind an unattended sack containing eight hundred rubles and gold. The mother, hardened by a life of relentless poverty and the loss of her son Ivan, fixates entirely on the wealth, arguing that life is cheap and gold is precious. Despite the father's initial hesitation and the daughter's frantic pleas, the mother murders the sleeping traveler for the gold. Just as she counts her ill-gotten coins, the father rushes back from the tavern with stunning news: the traveler was actually their long-lost son, Ivan, returning home in disguise.

In Agrippina, the action shifts to the moonlit courtyard of the imperial villa at Baiae, where a lavish banquet celebrates Nero's reconciliation with his mother. Anicetus and a ship captain plot the assassination of Agrippina via a staged shipwreck on the dark sea, under orders from Caesar. Inside, the guests drink heavily while Nero plays the part of a loving son, lavishing affection on his mother and expressing remorse for past estrangement. Agrippina embraces him, declaring that a mother is split in two by her love for her child, and departs for her villa at Bauli believing the rift is healed. When news reaches Nero that his mother miraculously survived the shipwreck by swimming ashore, he panics and swings wildly between desperate grief and murderous paranoia. Urged on by Anicetus and swayed by the sudden appearance of Poppaea, Nero ultimately gives the order to finish the deed. Armed men burst into Agrippina’s chamber at Bauli, snuff out the solitary lamp, and close in on her as she stands defiant.

How It Unfolds

• The peasant hearth — A young peasant girl sings of wanderers and grace in a rustic living room before her weary parents return home complaining of their grueling labor and poverty.
• The golden temptation — The girl reveals that a generous stranger is sleeping in their garden and has left behind an enormous fortune of eight hundred rubles.
• The fatal resolve — Consumed by bitterness over her hard life and lost son Ivan, the mother ignores her family's warnings and slips outside with a knife to claim the gold.
• The horrific discovery — The mother murders the sleeper and counts her loot, only for the father to return frantically from the tavern with the revelation that the dead man was their son Ivan.
• The imperial revelry — At Baiae, courtiers and mythological revellers celebrate Nero's reconciliation with Agrippina while assassins prepare a deadly trap on the water.
• The feigned embrace — Nero plays the affectionate son, weeping on Agrippina's breast and lulling her into complete security before she departs for Bauli.
• The surviving target — When Anicetus brings word that Agrippina survived her swim from the sinking ship, Nero cycles through terror, joy, and frantic panic.
• The final strike — Poppaea distracts the unstable emperor, allowing Anicetus and armed soldiers to track Agrippina to her chamber and extinguish her light in the dark.

The People

• The Mother (in Eight Hundred Rubles) is a weathered, bitter peasant woman worn down by decades of toil and the grief of losing her son Ivan. She wants financial security to escape her crushing poverty, and nothing—not moral law or human life—stands in her way, leading her to inadvertently murder her own returned son.
• The Father (in Eight Hundred Rubles) is a weary, resigned peasant who prefers a quiet evening of storytelling and drink. He desires the gold but recoils from murder, yet ultimately lacks the backbone to stop his wife, leaving him devastated when the truth is revealed.
• The Girl is an imaginative, gentle sixteen-year-old who sings of spiritual grace and believes the stranger might be a holy wanderer. She wants to protect the traveler and begs her parents to show mercy, ending the play heartbroken and horrified.
• Agrippina is the formidable Roman empress mother who harbors fierce, consuming ambition and deep pride in having placed the imperial crown on her son's head. She wants absolute maternal devotion and political security, but her blindness to Nero's treachery ends in her assassination.
• Nero is the erratic, theatrical Roman emperor who plays the tragic poet while drowning in wine and paranoia. He wants freedom from his mother's domineering shadow and absolute power, but he vacillates wildly between tender affection and murderous panic, ultimately manipulated by those around him.
• Anicetus is Nero's cold, calculating henchman who plots the maritime assassination and pushes the hesitant emperor to finish what he started, ensuring the elimination of the queen mother.

In Its Own Voice

The heart’s an open inn, And from the four winds fare.... Vagrants blind with care, Waifs that limp with sin; Ghosts of what has been,... Wraiths of what may be:... But One shall bring the sacred gift And which ... is He?

The peasant girl sings this evocative opening lyric, establishing the spiritual and wandering motif that runs through the humble cottage scenes.

One moment makes a father, but a mother Is made by endless moments, load on load.

The peasant mother defends her hardened worldview to her husband, arguing that the physical and emotional toll of motherhood far outweighs ordinary parental bonds.

She’s Aphrodite! — Helen! — Helen, then! A peep behind that veil, and once again The sword-flung music of the fighting men, Voluptuous ruin and wild battle joy...

Revellers at the imperial banquet lose themselves in mythological fantasies and intoxicated romanticism as they discuss the alluring Poppaea.

What It's Really About

Neihardt's dramas explore the terrifying extremes of maternal instinct and the corrupting nature of absolute power. In both plays, the figure of the mother dominates the narrative, acting as either a destructive force driven by survival and desperation or an overwhelming source of ambition that suffocates the child. The texts question whether love can coexist with greed and political calculation, suggesting that intense emotional bonds often curdle into tragic violence. The works also examine the illusions people construct to justify cruelty—whether the peasant mother dismissing human life as cheap compared to gold, or Nero framing his matricide as the grand act of a persecuted tragic hero caught in the web of Fate.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate classical tragedy, psychological drama, and rich, poetic verse will find much to admire in Neihardt's work. Reading these plays feels like stepping into a dimly lit amphitheater or a stark peasant cottage, charged with heavy atmosphere, suspense, and dense, elevated language. Modern readers should be prepared for period conventions, including heightened theatrical dialogue, ancient historical settings, and grim, uncompromising subject matter where happiness is entirely absent. Yet, the stark emotional honesty and the unsettling psychological portraits of guilt remain remarkably potent. What stays with you long after finishing the book is the chilling finality of the silence that follows the closing of a door, whether in a humble Russian peasant hut or an opulent Roman villa.