Interruption and Distraction in The TempestIn Shakespeare's play The Tempest, there are many interruptions that hinder the outcome of the play. Simultaneously, through magic and song, the wedding mask is a subtle distraction that could have altered the outcome of the play. In The Tempest, interruption amounts to distraction, in turn causing constraints. This promotes confusion, disruption, mental intrusion, and diversion among the characters in the play. We meet Ariel (Prospero's invisible servant). Ariel sings beautiful songs that entertain the characters and the audience. Ariel's songs inspire subliminal messages; these messages are acts of mental and physical destruction. The exquisite noise that Ferdinand hears is caused by the anxiety of marine imagery: Full stroke five, your father lies; Its bones are made of coral; There were pearls in his eyes; But it undergoes a sea change Into something rich and strange. every hour tolls the death knell: (1.2.400) It is very probably these same words that provoke Ferdinand's curiosity. Hearing that his father is lying at the bottom of the sea, his bones are deteriorating, there is a change, a certain change that implies. wealth and the ringing of a bell perhaps at death. "This music slipped by me on the waters / From there I followed it, Or rather it attracted me; but "it is gone" (1.2.392-94). This mixture of images seems somewhat chaotic to Ferdinand's ears as he does not know where the music is coming from, nor its intended meanings. At this point, Ferdinand is supposed to be searching for his father, he is distracted by Ariel's song: " And then take your hand". Make a curtsy when you have and kissed / The...... middle of paper ......e subjected to winter: Ariel's song excludes misery. Stephen Greenblatt describes Ariel's interruptions as a "clever manipulation of anxiety" (158). He notes that the events that occur lead one to believe that Ariel's goal is to distract the mind from its objective L. Ariel's distraction tool opens the way for unexpected events to occur. Mainly because of the interruptions in The Tempest, they become distracting. The interruptions in The Tempest are subtle and not obvious. Works Cited Greenblatt, Stephen. “The use of salutary anxiety in the storm.” The Tempest. Ed. Robert Langbaum. Classic Shakespeare bookmark. New York: Signet-NAL, 1998. 156-79. Rep. Shakespearean negotiations. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Robert Langbaum. Classic Shakespeare bookmark. New York: Signet-NAL, 1998.