Gavin Stevens

Gavin Stevens is one of Faulkner's favorite characters, and is elsewhere described as a Harvard graduate with a Ph.D. from Heidelberg who chooses to stay close to home, serving as the County Attorney for Yoknapatawpha in many of Faulkner's texts. Here, as in the other stories in Knight's Gambit, he acts as both amateur detective and crusader as he tries to right the wrong done to Monk by securing a pardon for the initial crime that he did not commit. Often described as a knight errant, Stevens is devoted to making Yoknapatawpha a better, more just place. However, his efforts are more quixotic than Arthurian, as readers see in this story when Monk rejects the pardon. Stevens seems to act on pure, conscientious convictions, but his actions often cause more harm than good, as evidenced when, less than a week after Gavin's visit to him, Monk gets into more trouble.