Charley Bates is a supporting character in the
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
's 1838 novel ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
''. He is a young boy and member of
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...
's gang of pickpockets, and sidekick to the
Artful Dodger
Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals ...
, whose skills he admires unreservedly.
Bill Sikes
William "Bill" Sikes is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. Sikes is a malicious criminal in Fagin's gang, and a vicious robber and murderer. Throughout much of the novel Sikes i ...
's murder of
Nancy shocks him so much that at the end of the novel he leaves London to become an agricultural labourer.
In the novel
Charley, along with the Artful Dodger, steals
Mr Brownlow
Mr Brownlow is a character from the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. Brownlow is a bookish and kindly middle-aged bachelor who helps Oliver escape the clutches of Fagin. He later adopts Oliver Twist by the end of the novel.
T ...
's handkerchief, a
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
that Oliver is blamed for. Later in the novel, Bates delivers the bad news to Fagin that when the Artful Dodger was arrested for stealing a silver snuff box, he was positively identified by the owner, such that it is a sure bet he will be convicted in court. Charley believes that it is too bad he did not go out in a blaze of glory by stealing something of great value instead of a "common twopenny-halfpenny" snuffbox. Fagin tells him that the Dodger's glory will be in the memory of his comrades: "wasn't he always top-sawyer among you all?". But Charley is distressed that the Dodger's greatness will not be preserved for posterity in the official record,
At the end of the novel, Charley is horrified by
Bill Sikes
William "Bill" Sikes is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. Sikes is a malicious criminal in Fagin's gang, and a vicious robber and murderer. Throughout much of the novel Sikes i ...
's violent murder of Nancy. When Sikes approaches him, he starts yelling, revealing Sikes's location to the mob that wants to lynch him. He is the only member of Fagin's gang to reform. In the final chapter Dickens states that Charley left London to work as a farm hand, later becoming a shepherd: "Master Charles Bates, appalled by Sikes's crime, fell into a train of reflection whether an honest life was not, after all, the best. Arriving at the conclusion that it certainly was, he turned his back upon the scenes of the past, resolved to amend it in some new sphere of action. He struggled hard and suffered much, for some time; but, having a contented disposition, and a good purpose, succeeded in the end; and, from being a farmer's drudge, and a carrier's lad, he is now the merriest young grazier in all Northamptonshire."
Media
![The_Writings_of_Charles_Dickens_v4_p142_(engraving)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/The_Writings_of_Charles_Dickens_v4_p142_%28engraving%29.jpg)
The character of Charley Bates has a much smaller role in the musical ''
Oliver!
''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens.
It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...
'', and is eliminated entirely from some other adaptations, including the 1997 adaptation and the 2007 miniseries. One adaptation in which his role is almost as significant as in the novel is
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
's 2005 adaptation. His role is also fairly prominent in the 1948
David Lean
Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...
film. Tito the chihuahua in Disney's 1988 animated film ''
Oliver and Company
''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on November 18, 1988, by Walt Disney Pictures. The 27th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on the Charl ...
'' is entirely based on Charley.
Critical commentary
Charley is regularly referred to as "Master Bates". Whether this is an intentional pun on "masturbates" is disputed. The word existed at the time, derived from the Latin verb ''masturbari'', but it was relatively obscure, and it is not recorded as a verb until 1857, 19 years after the novel was published. Edward Le Comte considered it to be a
Freudian slip
In psychoanalysis, a Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought. Classical examples involve slips of t ...
.
John Sutherland considered it to be too puerile, a "schoolboy joke", to be intentional, since Dickens's use of names is generally much more sophisticated.
Like Nancy, Charley represents the idea that redemption is possible for even the most degraded characters.
Lord Acton
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he wr ...
considered the portrayal of Charley and Nancy to indicate that ''Oliver Twist'' was a much more profound work than Dickens's earlier novel ''
The Pickwick Papers
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...
''. He wrote that "Nancy's refusal to be delivered from Sikes after her love for the child had brought her a chance of redemption and Charley Bates turning against the murderer are surely in a higher style than anything in Pickwick". It was Dickens's friend
John Forster who persuaded him to show Charley finally escaping a life of crime.
[Davis, James A., ''John Forster, a Literary Life'', Rowman & Littlefield, 1983, p.169.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Charley
Oliver Twist characters
Literary characters introduced in 1838
Child characters in film
Child characters in literature
Characters in British novels
Male characters in film
Male characters in literature