The Twelfth Night an epiphany

The Twelfth Night is reference to a Christain festival observed on January 6th (twelve days after Christmas) to the gentiles and the persons of the Magi. It is also called an epiphany and the holiday was historically celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down which portrays the chaotic aspects in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. There are many elements and references of the holiday seen in the play such as servants dressing up as their masters, masters as their servants, men and women, and women as men. The cross-dressing and switching of roles was an aspect of the feast of the epiphany holiday. This is also shown in the play and the reversal of the cultural origins stems the overall confusion in the play. One example of role reversal is Olivia taking the head of the household because men usually take on this aspect. Viola dresses up as a man (Cesario) to confine her female identity which shows she was cross-dressing. When Malvolio dresses up as a women because he thinks Olivia desires this act is another representation of the holiday overlapping ideas and notions onto how the play functioned. The idea also is brought about that people are not always as they seem. For example Feste, the jester and clown of the play, is actually witty and knowledgeable because he offers intelligent advice and is the only one not driven to insanity from love. It poses the question does love drive people mad. Feste was the only one in the play who did not have a partner but in the end he seemed the happiness. Overall the general comedy and chaos that results from the confusion also references the ritualized chaos of the Twelfth Night holiday. The confusion I am talking about is the misconception of identity, gender and sexual desires. In our modern day we define epiphany as a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience. Does the Twelfth night represent a double meaning of epiphany? I believe yes because it portrays the historical epiphany twelfth night holiday as well as offers insight on how dysfunctional the society is which is initiated through all the role and cultural reversal.