I recently enjoyed encountering this provocative work of art. The title, “Orlando and the Wrestler,” obviously caught my attention. The Irish artist, Daniel Maclise, painted this Victorian oil in 1854. Based on a scene from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Maclise paints Orlando as a rather fey, doe eyed twink who looks like he has no idea that he’s about to meet the buzzsaw of tattooed strongman and renowned wrestler, Charles.
This isn’t necessarily exactly how Shakespeare set the scene, but I like Maclise’s artistic license. The audience is sucked into the scenario, like Duke Frederick, anticipating that the sexually suspect babyface is in serious danger in the coming match. Orlando appears so distracted by his melodramatic infatuation with the girl in the front row that he may not even notice that his opponent is a nicely muscled testosterone-driven hunk with a look of fierce destruction in his eyes. It’s inevitably going to be a babyface in the blender, as Charles watches his opponent with contempt. Little does Charles or the audience realize that when the match begins, the babyface will swiftly take down the brute. Perhaps capitalizing on his opponent’s underestimation of his preparation and skill, Orlando delivers the story of the cunning babyface heel, luring his impressive opponent into complacency, psyching him out with some pre-match shenanigans. Perhaps the whole heart-clutched schmaltz was even a front for a gay anti-hero pulling the strings of his neanderthal musclehead foe. Just imagine this big brute on his back, Orlando grapevining his hotly muscled legs, spreading him wide and making the hardbody grunt out his shocked, humiliated submission.
Okay, so nearly NONE of this is actually in Shakespeare’s text. Quite a bit of it isn’t particularly apparent in Maclise’s painting. But that’s why they call it art. It provokes in me an entire, titillating narrative that draws me in and brings a smile to my face.
Sidelineland 
Whoa. Shakespeare could be HOT.
Definitely! And he was constantly writing gender-bending characters, boys disguised as girls, girls as boys, boys starting to fall in love with boys when they think that they're girls, boys starting to fall in love with girls despite thinking that they're boys… throw in a wrestling scene, and this needs to be broadcast on Logo!
Actually, this wrestling scene in the play was a big deal guilty pleasure for me as a teenager. (I didn't have access to much in the way of anything you could call "explicit.")
That's awesome! I think more people should leave Shakespeare with a burning need to get off. As you say, Shakespeare is hot.