A Weak Anchor

It is ironic that Gahmuret’s emblem is an anchor. He is always so restless, always seeking adventure, and (to put it in modern psychological terms) has serious commitment issues. He is unstable and flighty, not the characteristics usually associated with an anchor.

He also seems to suffer from lovesickness. Hopelessly smitten by Queen Belacane, he cannot sleep thinking about here. “The hero lost his patience with the night for dragging on so. With thoughts of the dusky Moorish Queen he fell from swoon to swoon, he whipped from side to side like an osier, setting his joints a-cracking” (Wolfram 30). This is the angst typically ascribed to lovesick woman, not a valiant knight. It also shows the disparity between him and his emblem, as an anchor holds firm a ship that is being tossed and buffeted by the waves.

This is not, however, the only scene that feminizes Gahmuret. On page 43, he is said to have “full lips [that] shone like rubies, red as fire”. Rarely are men’s lips mentioned when describing his physical appearance, much less how red they are. Yet the poet points this out as one of his most salient features.

There is another feminized outpouring of grief on page 57, and this time, another character comments on it:
‘Now summon up all your courage,’ said King Hardiz, ‘for if you are a man you must not voice your grief beyond measure.’
But alas, Gahmuret’s anguish was too great. A torrent gushed from his eyes.

Gahmuret’s behavior throughout the poem is vexing because it does not exemplify knightly, Christian, or manly virtue. The emblem of the anchor is even more problematic. Unless Wolfram meant it to be a joke, it doesn’t seem to represent Gahmuret in anyway.