Charley Bates is the Artful Dodgers pickpocketing partner, and I dare say the best freind he has. I have always pictured him after as having red curly hair and rosy cheeks, as that fits his eccenticly merry nature. John Potter played Charley to perfection in the old black and white movie, and he and Anthony Newly (the Dodger) were the best Dawkin & Bates duo ever. *grin*
Charley Bates is another pickpocket of Fagins, the only other one besides the Dodger which you hear much about, in fact. When talking about the Dodger, many times people talk about his immortal irrepressable nature of the Cockney boys which Charles Dickens had been in contact with in the shoe polishing factories of his childhood. Swaggering, roystering youths who live in about the worst place possible for them, and don’t seem to mind at all. Together, the Dodger and Charley were inspired by those boys in the novel, and although almost everytime the Dodger is complimented on it souly- Charley is the one that draws it out of him.
The Dodger is very serious, and truly does act like a growen up, although in a more self-centered and childish way. He never laughs, and almost never smiles, although he isn’t meloncoly in any way- he’s just so caught up in his livlehood, that other things seem unimportant in comparison. He is shrewd, and calculating, and has no trouble keeping his mouth shut when it is obvious his words are not needed, but always seems to take a right hand in whatever is going on, and of course, has a unresputable reputation. Thus he is the part of the Cockney spirit that refuses to be overlooked, or stepped apon, also the part that has had to mature more quickly then is usual due to its circumstance.
Charley, on the other hand, has a rowdy and boisterous personality, and takes as much of his life as possible with no seriousness whatsoever, never seeing the consequence of his or others actions- and never seeming to care much about them until punishment is delt. When that happens, he creates a huge fuss, and a loud one. If there is something about Charley Bates- its loud. He luaghs, uproariously, at not only things people say, but looks they might have, and most of all any circumstance or coincidence that comes his way. Espicaly everything to do with Oliver, strikes him as hilareous. When Oliver was oblivious to their being pickpockets, every statement that came out of his mouth seemed funny in its ignorance, and then when he was brought back from Mr. Brownlow, it was the odd circumstance that set him off. Thus he is the more cheeky, pranksterish part of the Cockney spirit, the careless part, the part that is stubbronly jolly whatever hits it.
Together, the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates balance each other out, they are true counter parts. Only when standing beside the other can they be fully appreciated for what they are, they just compliment each other so perfectly. They are the immortal image of London pickpockets, and the Cockney boys.