David Gamut Character Analysis in The Last of the Mohicans

A psalmodist, or singer and teacher of hymns, David Gamut meets with Heyward, Alice, and Cora on the initial trip from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry. Although Gamut has never fired a weapon and considers himself a pacifist, he manages to survive as a Huron captive for much of the novel, and is unhurt in the major skirmish that ends the book.

David Gamut Quotes in The Last of the Mohicans

The The Last of the Mohicans quotes below are all either spoken by David Gamut or refer to David Gamut. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“Savagery,” Civilization, and the Frontier Theme Icon

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Bantam Classics edition of The Last of the Mohicans published in 1982.

“Isle of Wight!” ‘Tis a brave tune, and set to solemn words; let it be sung with meet respect!

Related Characters: (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 90

Explanation and Analysis:

Little be the praise to such worm as I. But, though the power of psalmody was suspended in the terrible business of that field of blood through which we passed, it has recovered its influence even over the soul of the heathen, and I am suffered to go and come at will.

Related Characters: (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 257

Explanation and Analysis:

Even so, I will abide in the place of the Delaware. Bravely and generously has he battled in my behalf; and this, and more, will I dare in his service.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 316

Explanation and Analysis:

David Gamut Character Timeline in The Last of the Mohicans

The timeline below shows where the character David Gamut appears in The Last of the Mohicans. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The psalmodist sings one of his hymns, and Alice is delighted to hear it, although Heyward stops... (full context)

Hawkeye asks to see the runner, who is standing back behind the psalmodist (named David) and Alice and Cora; Hawkeye, after looking the runner over, returns to Heyward... (full context)

...and Chingachgook state, however, that the group must get rid of their horses. In particular, David’s colt is too large for the journey, and so Uncas, without delay, slits its throat... (full context)

...believe that the Mohicans, “like women,” have abandoned the arts of war. Near the outcropping, David sings a psalm of mourning for his dead colt, and the group prepares to enter... (full context)

Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook direct Heyward, David, Alice, and Cora into the caverns near the waterfalls, showing them that, once inside, the... (full context)

...all appear satisfied that they have alluded any enemies for the night. Hawkeye talks to David and asks about his employment; on hearing that David is a singer, Hawkeye wonders aloud... (full context)

...quieted the horses, and the group waits for several hours. After Cora and Alice and David sleep for a time, Heyward and Hawkeye awaken them and say it is time to... (full context)

Hawkeye drags David back down into the cave, and seeing that David’s wound is only superficial, promises the... (full context)

...asking for reinforcements to find the remainder of the party; in the meantime, the women, David, and Heyward will surrender to the Mingos and hope they can be saved by Hawkeye... (full context)

...Heyward telling him that he, too, ought to float downstream and leave Alice, Cora, and David to be captured. But Heyward, looking at Alice, to whom he has shown increasing signs... (full context)

...of the forest, and does not see any sign of the Mingos. He goes to David, who has been in and out of consciousness after the grazing shot he received. David... (full context)

The group of Maquas moves on, however, and Heyward tells Cora, Alice, and David that they are saved—they have escaped detection. Just then, however, Magua sees the cavern and,... (full context)

...the conduct of the Mingos, who do not “disturb” him or Alice and Cora and David, but instead roam through the caverns in search of Hawkeye. Magua tells Heyward that the... (full context)

The Mingos herd Heyward, David, and the two women down the rocky outcropping into a large canoe. The canoe floats... (full context)

...Alice and Cora, attempting to save them from the Hurons’ violence. But the Hurons bind David, Alice, Cora, and Heyward each to their own trees, and the warriors prepare to sharpen... (full context)

...right—the young women cry out with joy that the band is saved, and Hawkeye unties David, who is similarly thankful. Uncas and Chingachgook then collect scalps from the dead Hurons. David... (full context)

...conveyance” from the fort, along with the other English soldiers and their families. Heyward sees David, singing psalms to himself as comfort in this frightening time, and Heyward asks David to... (full context)

Alice, Cora, and David, along with other English families, begin walking out of the fort, and observe the French... (full context)

...families, but the Hurons manage to kill a great many unarmed men, women, and children. David, the singer, finds Alice and Cora, who have abandoned all hope and are calling, in... (full context)

But Magua hears David’s hymns, too, and comes running over to Alice and Cora. Magua repeats his demand that... (full context)

...observed Fort William Henry. Magua instead shows Alice (who has now woken up), Cora, and David the terrible destruction wrought by the Hurons on the innocent English, below. Cora and Alice... (full context)

Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye also find signs of David’s and Magua’s footprints and clothing near Cora’s torn shawl, causing them to conclude that Magua... (full context)

But Hawkeye says that Alice is perhaps in the company of Cora, Magua, and David, and Hawkeye and the Mohicans vow to search through the wilderness for them. Although Munro... (full context)

...by a creek and finds the faintest imprint of a moccasin, about the size of David’s feet—Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye conclude that David has been forced into native shoes and has... (full context)

Suddenly, Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye realize that David, perhaps, became tired in his walking—Magua’s and the two young women’s footprint are now visible,... (full context)

...why Hawkeye is not afraid of him, soon Heyward realizes that the strange man is David, that the four-legged beings are beavers by a small lake, and that their earthen “houses”... (full context)

Hawkeye, Uncas, Chingachgook, Munro, and Heyward begin speaking to David. David says that Alice and Cora are all right, physically, though they are exhausted by... (full context)

Heyward asks David how they came to travel over land to their current location, and David briefly tells... (full context)

...costume of a “fool,” a wandering songster in the French-speaking regions near Ticonderoga; Heyward and David travel together through the woods, and encounter a clearing in which 50 or 60 wooden... (full context)

Heyward and David walk into the center of the village, and the children give long shouts, alerting warriors... (full context)

...place their sick—whom they consider to be infested with strange spirits. There, Heyward discovers that David visits these caverns in order to sing to the “spiritually sick”. The Hurons believe that... (full context)

...magic, and so leaves Heyward with the bear and the ill young woman in the cavern—David, too, walks back to the village, stating that Heyward must be left to do his... (full context)

Hawkeye walks back to the Huron village, and finds David in his own, small hut, which the Huron permit him to live in, separate from... (full context)

David walks with Hawkeye to the lodge of the chiefs in the village, and says that... (full context)

Hawkeye enters Uncas’s small prison-hut while David guards the entrance. Hawkeye dances for a moment in the bear costume, but Uncas, recognizing... (full context)

David stays behind in the Huron village, creating a diversion by yelling in Uncas’s prison hut,... (full context)

The Hurons rush to the prison-hut and discover David in Uncas’s place; they raise a loud cry, but David begins singing his hymns loudly,... (full context)

Heyward and Hawkeye believe they see a Huron in the forest, but it is only David, who has wandered away into the no-man’s-land between the two villages. Hawkeye asks David for... (full context)